Village heads must be creative, dynamic in managing - KPLB

He said this was important in efforts to realise the ministry's target to create more villages that meet the KPLB prosperous village criteria.

"There are two elements to KPLB prosperous village implementation process, namely infrastructure and leadership. It is this second element that we want to improve on since it has become one of the factors for villages to qualify as a KPLB prosperous village. The number is still low as only 127 out of 28,000 villages qualify."

He told reporters after a ceremony to hand over appointment letters to Melaka state Village Development and Security Committee (JPKK) members here today.

Mahdzir said training sessions and management courses have been prepared by the ministry in collaboration with the state government and agencies to ensure that the community leaders fulfill the elements.

He said the ministry has received several applications to qualify a village to be called Kampung Sejahtera KPLB, but most of them have not met the set criteria.

According to Mahdzir, many villages have met the first element which is infrastructure facilities but still do not qualify to be called a KPLB prosperous village.

"There are villages that have complete data, such as knowing how many residents are pursuing higher education, but when asked what further action should be taken, such as holding a ceremony to celebrate the students, generally the village heads are clueless.

"So, this is where we want to see the village heads' initiatives. We want to see how many village heads have what it takes and are dynamic...we want to see more of them," he said.

Meanwhile, Mahdzir said the Melaka state secretariat was in the midst of completing the documentation for allowance payments to JPKK in the state.

"We will make sure that the process is expedited so that payments can be made before year end," he said.