Malaysia, as a young democratic country is working very hard to uphold a working democracy without necessarily trying to ape the Westminster. The country will achieve the level of Westminster when it becomes a full developed nation complete with the constitutional structure, economic order and management pattern to run the society and economy. The greatest tolerance of differences among the people will emerge when they become adjusted to change in a more prosperous economy. That will happen at different levels of adjustments in the society.
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| Malaysia Parliament Building |
Admittedly, the country has not reached the same level as England in terms of democratic practices; it is moving towards that. For example, judging by the British standard, the State is yet to have a viable opposition. The members are yet to understand what needs to be done to make Malaysia a success as a high income economy and enjoys the freedom that is balanced with team built responsibility. The country must not be made to spin like a top with the economy leading the people in one way and the social change the other way.
As parliamentarians, their primary task is to build a new society and a working democracy. They must try to get a majority, which is the basic rule of democracy. More importantly, the country must avoid having a slim majority with a noisy opposition, which talks only about freedom, defects of the government and problems in the country. Thanks God, the history of Malaysia has always been having a strong majority, most of the time a 2/3 majority. Even if extreme groups play with racial or religious issues to rock the system, the country manages to remain strong; the country will probably face a lot of problems if it does not have a strong majority.
Undoubtedly, the election system in the country has become quite established. Hence, the illegal rally in the Federal capital last Saturday was very unnecessary and a total waste of time and money.
That was the classic example of the fact that the opposition has nothing to do, just try to find fault with everything that the government is doing for the people, State and country. Undeniably, the Electoral system, like any other systems, may have flaws here and there. The Election Commission has said time and time again that it is open to discussion with a view to improve the system.
In any case, it is many times better than the system being used by PKR to elect its new office bearers last year. The system caused chaos at all levels of the party meetings and elections. Members traded punches and threw chairs at each other. Those things happened in the 50s and 60s. In other words, the organisation and management of PKR now is as backward as those in the 50s and 60s.
Ironically, Anwar Ibrahim, who does not even know how to run free and fair elections in his own party, was identified by none other than the Prime Minister, Dato Seri Mohd. Najib Tun Abdul Razak, as the principal instigator of the illegal rally. Who is he trying to fool?
It was the same system that allowed PKR to topple UMNO is Selangor, DAP toppled Gerakan in Pulau Pinang and UMNO in Perak and PAS toppled UMNO in Kedah and won convincingly in spite of mediocre performance as the State government in Kelantan.
In Sarawak, in April 16 elections, DAP wrested all the 12 Chinese majority constituencies from SUPP. In the by-election for Sibu parliamentary constituency in April 2010, DAP wrested the constituency from SUPP.
Had the electoral system been biased towards the government, PKR, DAP and PAS would not have won seats and formed the state governments in Pulau Pinang, Kedah, Perak briefly, Selangor the priced State and Kelantan. Nor would the victory of DAP in Sarawak possible.
The question is how come the Opposition suddenly finds the system to be seriously flawed? The opposite has been happening, the Election commission has been making a lot of improvements for the convenience of the voters. At least, the decision to separate supporters of the opposition, known for their rowdiness and indiscipline, from those of Barisan Nasional has helped to make polling to be peaceful.
The opposition are making accusations of money politics or some people paying their way to become successful candidates but is the problem serious? The illegal rally planned by Anwar Ibrahim last Saturday aside, violence will follow spontaneously if the Election Commission appears to be unable to uphold certain standard of integrity in the process of elections; that is the way people react to deteriorating situation.
Of course, Pakatan Rakyat is very worried that its fine performance in 2008 General elections could after all be a fluke. Undoubtedly, the General election 2008 was the best showing by the opposition, which had never been able to organise itself to become a viable opposition in the State and country. It could come up mainly due to the split of the Malays, who had taken their cohesiveness for granted.
Anwar came in and widened the gap. He propagated the idea that PAS, PKR together with DAP could shake the government. That was what they did. Had there been no weakening of UMNO and split in some of its ranks and files, it would be doubtful that such victory could have been possible. Presumably, with such good outings, the leaders have become big headed and have insatiable desire for power. Hence, the common goal is to discredit the government.
To Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Kit Siang and Hadi Awang, everything about the Government is bad. However, the opposition has no record to show that they have been able to serve the people, State and country well. Only Lee Lam Thye, the former Member of Parliament for Bukit Bintang, was the exception. During his term as the Member of Parliament for Bukit Bintang in the 70s , he became a full time politician. He used to go around his constituency with a type writer in a van to do petition letters for the people to Ministries and Government departments. The others can’t do that anymore because they have spoiled all their relationships with government departments by abusing them.
Obviously, the government backbenchers, in facing that kind of opposition, have no choice but to take them seriously and fight them. If they tell lies and they don’t understand government’s procedure, hit them back because if people are ignorant they must be shown to be ignorant. Otherwise, the people will still continue to rely on them to advocate their cause. The people will continue to think that the opposition is fighting for them.
Undoubtedly, Government Ministers and backbenchers have been working very hard in the services of the people, state and country. The Government has been spending billions of dollars every year for projects for the benefits of the people. The State government, since 1981 under the leadership of Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud as the Chief Minister, has been able to transform Sarawak from the backwater lane of development to one of the fastest growing economy in the country.
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| Sarawak State Legislative Assembly Complex |
These are hard works but the Ministers and the backbenchers have been too modest to say that they have been working harder than the opposition, who only work with their mouth. Government Ministers have to work with their thinking caps, persuasive power and labour to travel here and there to meet the people.
Generally, the people have learnt to respect leaders, who have done something for them. Regrettably, the leaders have been too humble in the past to such an extent that they suffer because of that. They must correct their weaknesses, mainly of being modest and humble, to let the people know what they have been doing for them; whatever projects being carried out for the people must be accompanied with more aggressive publicity and propaganda. They must engage the people and get them to be part of the movement for change. Undoubtedly, they are the forces of transformation who can achieve results, not the opposition.
The opposition relies on one strategy only namely to pull government Ministers and backbenchers down; the members will do just that to them. They are prepared to stoop very low to make personal attacks and demonise government leaders. They will be quarrelsome because they think they are brave and not scared of the government; they are not scared of the power of the people. All they care is to win in the propaganda. By hooks or by crooks, they want to show that they can dominate, for example, the sittings of the State legislative assembly and the debates on the ground.
Obviously, government Ministers and backbenchers, in facing that kind of opposition, must take the members, the elected representatives in particular seriously and fight them. If they tell lies and they don’t understand government’s procedure, hit them back because if people are ignorant they must be shown to be ignorant. Otherwise, the people will still continue to rely on them to advocate their cause. The people will continue to think that the opposition is fighting for them.
In this respect, Government backbenchers must utilise fully their thinking caps, persuasive power and resourcefulness in their overall roles as big supporters of the government and wheels that make the transformation program working. They must use all their strength and resourcefulness in order to succeed in their endeavours.
As government backbenchers, they should be in much better positions to serve the people. For example, government servants, who understand their roles, should be co-operative with and helpful to them. Obviously, they must prepare themselves with information, knowledge, links and ability to serve the people within a structured program. The people have already told them in the last elections of their roles as their elected representatives.
The opposition always claim that they are bringing in new ideas and changes. But the truth is the idea of change started with the Alliance when it won the parliamentary election in 1955. It was a new concept in Malaya in those days. It was the news that the people in Sarawak watched keenly without the understanding that it was the example of how democracy would work for them. The victory of the Alliance in 1955, led by the late YTM Tunku Abdul Rahman, has evolved into something that brings us to what we call modernity, a way for people to reach a certain level of progress and development in their livelihood. In the process, a lot of the old ways, customs and other old fashioned ideas give way to modern and more practical way to economic development.
Obviously, Barisan Nasional has been working very hard to bring change within the familiarity of the old concept. The idea of Change for the better is being encroached through leadership and political system. The Opposition may talk about change without knowing what they talk about. They do not have holistic ideas and the paraphernalia of the working democracy of a developed nation.
benuasains
*Photos Source:
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