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ONE person answered, “I suppose I learnt it in school, but I was not exposed to it enough to know much about it.”

Another informed the Eye, “If I’m not mistaken it was taught during Sejarah (History) lessons. But it was mostly forgotten after we left school”.

The two, and several others, were responding to the Eye’s question of whether they knew anything about the Federal Constitution. And truth be told, the Eye was hardly surprised by their answers.

Those who were practically interrogated about their knowledge on the Federal Constitution were all well-educated individuals and professionals in their own fields and they all had similar sentiments — Malaysians are generally pretty much in the dark about the very foundation of the nation and that there has been little effort to sensitise the rakyat on the Federal Constitution.

Those asked also agreed that information on the Federal Constitution is a “touch and go” topic slipped within the pages of history or general studies textbooks in school and that there are no real efforts taken to expose the rakyat at all levels to the Constitution.

Unless one takes up legal studies or some law papers in the course of one’s tertiary education, the Constitution is basically ‘out of sight and out of mind’ with many having absolutely no idea what it is all about.

The Eye’s interest on the awareness level of the Constitution was piqued while browsing through a renowned bookshop in Kuala Lumpur, while a young lady was looking through some government reference books.

She could not tell the difference between the ‘Perintah-Perintah Am’ (General Orders) and ‘Perlembagaan Persekutuan’ (Federal Constitution). The Eye overheard her asking the sales assistant what the difference was between the two books.

The Eye assumed that    she was trying to get hold    of some reference material  to prepare for a job interview with the government. What a scary thought! And we wonder why there are government officers who are ignorant of certain aspects of the Constitution as demonstrated by a certain issue not too long ago.

Coincidentally, a few weeks after the bookshop incident, a little piece of news was published on the MyConstitution Campaign organised by the Advocates Association of Sarawak (AAS).

Recalling the incident at the bookshop, the Eye rounded up some friends to quiz them on the Constitution.

Fortunately, all those whom the Eye interrogated could explain the basics of the Constitution — that our basic human rights are enshrined in the Constitution, that it takes a certain number of votes in Dewan Negara to change or add a single item in the Constitution; and that the Constitution forms the underlying foundations for other Malaysian laws.

Back to the MyConstitution Campaign, the Eye must say that it is timely.

Apparently, the campaign was conceived some time mid-last year and will be launched next month.

It is a two-year nationwide apolitical awareness campaign that aims to educate the rakyat so that they are aware of the Constitution and understand how it works.

The campaign’s activities, to target all levels of society, will include the publication of a series of pocket-sized booklets concerning the major themes of the Constitution for distribution, public service announcements, and talks on the Constitution.

As the situation stands right now, Eye must say it   is a shame that the majority of the rakyat is still in the dark about the supreme     law of the country and      that our school students blindly recite a pledge to uphold the Constitution under the Rukun Negara (Nation’s Principles) when they are vague as to what this entails.

The matter would not    just be a shame but would indeed become frightening   if some young ignoramus      is hired to serve the rakyat and cannot tell the  difference between General Orders and the nation’s Constitution.