Article contributed by James Low Hong
Ping and Amer Ashrhaf, Members, Bar Council Constitutional Law
Committee; and photos by Satha Selvan Subramaniam, Senior
Administrative Assistant, Bar Council
Exactly a month after the historic 14th General Election ("GE14"), a public
forum on the importance of a strong Opposition for a vibrant democracy
was held. The two–hour forum on the bright Saturday morning of 9
June 2018 was co–organised by the Bar Council Constitutional Law
Committee (“ConstiLC”) and the Bar Council National Young Lawyers and
Pupils Committee (“NYLPC”). It took place at the Bar Council Raja
Aziz Addruse Auditorium, Wisma Badan Peguam.
A few minutes past 10:00 am, Rajsurian Pillai, Co–Deputy Chairperson of
ConstiLC, kicked off the forum and introduced the moderator — Surendra
Ananth, Co–Chairperson of ConstiLC — and the speakers.
A summary of the speakers’ presentations follows below.
YB
Maria Chin Abdullah, Member
of Parliament (Petaling Jaya)
Fittingly, YB Maria Chin began the discussion by addressing why we need to have a strong Opposition, namely to ensure that critical questions are asked in Parliament and to the ministries. It is also to make sure that the promises, policies, plans and laws are being implemented by the ruling Government.
As an illustration of the said importance, YB Maria shared that the schools and low–cost housing areas in her Parliamentary constituency were not deservingly funded and neglected to an extent. Such discrepancies of the past cannot be allowed to repeat, whereby there was purportedly insufficient monetary attention given by the previous Government.
On a separate note, YB Maria highlighted that it is the role of the Opposition to comprehensively and openly engage on the issue of race and religion for the betterment of civil society.
YAM Tunku Zain Al–‘Abidin ibni Tuanku Muhriz, Founding President, Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs
YAM Tunku Zain was next at the podium and commented that the Raja Aziz Addruse Auditorium looked smaller than what he had remembered. Perhaps in answer to his observation, the partitioned Auditorium was later extended as more people arrived to hear the insightful views from the panel.
According to YAM Tunku Zain, the idea of an Opposition is central to democracy and the Parliament is the primary platform for people to voice their disagreements, to debate policies and to argue what they think is bad for the country. To have a strong Opposition, YAM Tunku Zain suggested the following four Parliamentary reforms:
(1) Set up additional independent Parliamentary Committees. This enables legislation to be better reviewed;
(2) Allocate an equal amount of resources and funding to all Members of Parliament (“MPs”) and the allocation should be formalised instead of on an ad hoc basis;
(3) Ensure independence from party leaders. Backbenchers are beholden to their party leaders because party leaders call the shots in candidate selection; and
(4) Strengthen the Upper Chamber of Parliament, ie the Dewan Negara. The Federal Constitution provides that Senators may be appointed by popular vote as well.[1]
YAM Tunku Zain ended his segment by reminding the audience that outside of Parliament, other institutions and civil society organisations are important as well, to ensure that the voice of the Opposition is heard.
Andy Yong Kim Seng, Gerakan Youth Deputy Chief
Andy started by highlighting the current condition of the Opposition: the members of the Opposition now suffer from a trust and credibility deficit. At the same time, those who were deeply entrenched to change Barisan Nasional (“BN”) are still very intolerant of BN. The people are still focusing on the shortcomings of the previous Government and the former Prime Minister. As such, open criticism from the Opposition is not being well–received at the moment.
Once the Opposition has overcome the deficit, its members have to first and foremost understand their roles as watchdog of the Government. They need to be intelligent and have the knowledge to oppose with facts and figures in order for them to become an effective check over the Government.
According to Andy, there are two segments of the Opposition — Parliamentary and political. The BN MPs represent almost half of those elected to Parliament. As such, they have to be mindful of the interest of their constituents. Those falling outside of Parliament constitute the political opposition, such as those who lost in GE14. They too need to hold the Government accountable and advocate for fundamental liberties.
Dr Azmi Sharom, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Malaya
Staying true to his nature, Dr Azmi complained, tongue–in–cheek, about events that are held on Saturday mornings. He continued to inject spirit into the air by making some acerbic remarks on the Opposition before going into his points.
Fittingly, YB Maria Chin began the discussion by addressing why we need to have a strong Opposition, namely to ensure that critical questions are asked in Parliament and to the ministries. It is also to make sure that the promises, policies, plans and laws are being implemented by the ruling Government.
As an illustration of the said importance, YB Maria shared that the schools and low–cost housing areas in her Parliamentary constituency were not deservingly funded and neglected to an extent. Such discrepancies of the past cannot be allowed to repeat, whereby there was purportedly insufficient monetary attention given by the previous Government.
On a separate note, YB Maria highlighted that it is the role of the Opposition to comprehensively and openly engage on the issue of race and religion for the betterment of civil society.
YAM Tunku Zain Al–‘Abidin ibni Tuanku Muhriz, Founding President, Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs
YAM Tunku Zain was next at the podium and commented that the Raja Aziz Addruse Auditorium looked smaller than what he had remembered. Perhaps in answer to his observation, the partitioned Auditorium was later extended as more people arrived to hear the insightful views from the panel.
According to YAM Tunku Zain, the idea of an Opposition is central to democracy and the Parliament is the primary platform for people to voice their disagreements, to debate policies and to argue what they think is bad for the country. To have a strong Opposition, YAM Tunku Zain suggested the following four Parliamentary reforms:
(1) Set up additional independent Parliamentary Committees. This enables legislation to be better reviewed;
(2) Allocate an equal amount of resources and funding to all Members of Parliament (“MPs”) and the allocation should be formalised instead of on an ad hoc basis;
(3) Ensure independence from party leaders. Backbenchers are beholden to their party leaders because party leaders call the shots in candidate selection; and
(4) Strengthen the Upper Chamber of Parliament, ie the Dewan Negara. The Federal Constitution provides that Senators may be appointed by popular vote as well.[1]
YAM Tunku Zain ended his segment by reminding the audience that outside of Parliament, other institutions and civil society organisations are important as well, to ensure that the voice of the Opposition is heard.
Andy Yong Kim Seng, Gerakan Youth Deputy Chief
Andy started by highlighting the current condition of the Opposition: the members of the Opposition now suffer from a trust and credibility deficit. At the same time, those who were deeply entrenched to change Barisan Nasional (“BN”) are still very intolerant of BN. The people are still focusing on the shortcomings of the previous Government and the former Prime Minister. As such, open criticism from the Opposition is not being well–received at the moment.
Once the Opposition has overcome the deficit, its members have to first and foremost understand their roles as watchdog of the Government. They need to be intelligent and have the knowledge to oppose with facts and figures in order for them to become an effective check over the Government.
According to Andy, there are two segments of the Opposition — Parliamentary and political. The BN MPs represent almost half of those elected to Parliament. As such, they have to be mindful of the interest of their constituents. Those falling outside of Parliament constitute the political opposition, such as those who lost in GE14. They too need to hold the Government accountable and advocate for fundamental liberties.
Dr Azmi Sharom, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Malaya
Staying true to his nature, Dr Azmi complained, tongue–in–cheek, about events that are held on Saturday mornings. He continued to inject spirit into the air by making some acerbic remarks on the Opposition before going into his points.
He highlighted that currently, the people do not have an Opposition yet because the Opposition is not providing us with an alternative to the Government. It will take time and take new faces, those whom we would not immediately associate with the previous regime.
In the meantime, the Government should get rid of or amend repressive laws like the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 and the Official Secrets Act 1972. At the same time, the Government should enact a Freedom of Information Act for the whole country. This will facilitate the formation of a strong Opposition and to prevent history from repeating if BN takes power in the future.
Dr Azmi concluded by saying that the Government now has the opportunity to change the way we talk about politics, to move away from business as usual and to show that things can be better without being overly obsessed with race and religion.
The forum proceeded to what became an incisive question–and–answer session. Some of the burning questions and their summarised responses from the panel are as follows:
Question: Is party hopping affecting the existence of an Opposition?
YB Maria: I am against party hopping. People elect a representative because of his or her party affiliation.
YAM Tunku Zain: We should be open to the possibility that a party may change, eg by going against the party’s own manifesto. In such a scenario, MPs must have the option to switch to another party.
Question: Do we need a united Opposition front or can there be independent parties to have a strong Opposition?
Dr Azmi: The Opposition may not necessarily be a united front. The reason for a coalition is due to the first–past–the–post system, in which singular parties struggle to gain traction.
Andy: He is sceptical that breaking down BN into its component parties augurs well, because the component parties by themselves do not seem to impress the people.
Question: Is the creation of a Shadow Cabinet helpful in having a strong Opposition?
YB Maria: Yes, but currently, the members of the Opposition have trust issues and so they need to get their act together first.
YAM Tunku Zain: In the Pakatan Harapan manifesto, the Opposition Leader would be given the same amount of resources as ministers. This is an important first step to enable the creation of a Shadow Cabinet.
Question: How about having a non–MP as the Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat, or having the Speaker come from the ruling Government and the Deputy Speaker from the Opposition?
Andy: It is an ideal arrangement to have the Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat from the ruling Government and the Deputy Speaker from the Opposition. Having said that, it may not be politically practical, because the Government needs to push through its agenda in the Parliament.
Question: How do we move away from race and religion–based politics, which seems to be the interest of the Opposition?
Dr Azmi: If the respective ministries can do a good job and the people’s lives improve, then the audience for race and religion–based politics will be small. Success and prosperity are the biggest weapons against racism and religious extremism, which are the weapons of those without ideas.
YB Maria: Participation — from the public and non–governmental organisations (“NGOs”) — in narratives favouring meritocracy must continue.
A few minutes before noon, Surendra drew the forum to a close. Rajsurian invited Khaizan Sharizad Ab Razak, Co–Chairperson of NYLPC, to present tokens of appreciation to the speakers. While the speakers and committee members of the ConstiLC and NYLPC gathered for group photos, the audience slowly left for their weekend plans.
[1] Article 45(4)(b) of the Federal Constitution.