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PAS : KE ARAH PEMERINTAHAN ISLAM YANG ADIL
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Author: Kim Quek
Shame On Malaysian Parliment
Malaysian Parliament has sunk to another record low in
its shameful history as the Supreme Institution in a
parliamentary democracy.Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad recently made the shocking revelation that he
had put Parliament under TV surveillance wired
directly to his office, when he warned his MPs not to
play truant in Parliament. Malaysian Parliament is
famous for the frequent stoppages to its sessions due
to lack of quorum, as MPs from the ruling party, who
occupy three quarter of the seats in the House, are
not in the habit of attending Parliament.
The nonsensical drama that unfolded in Parliament
following protests from Opposition MPs of this TV
surveillance marks the shocking ignorance of the
fundamental concept of parliamentary democracy and the
slavish mentality of parliamentarians from the ruling
party (in particular the Speaker), who are obvious
victims of 2 decades of dictatorial rule by Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
Instead of jumping up in protest in unison with
Opposition MPs at this latest insult from the Prime
Minister who had obviously treated them like a bunch
of school kids by subjecting them to his personal TV
surveillance, MPs from the ruling party acted in the
exact opposite. They shouted down the opposition MP
who challenged the Prime Minister¡¦s right to put
Parliament under such surveillance, and the Speaker
even went to the ridiculous extreme of prohibiting the
Opposition MP from speaking further.
The most shocking and revealing part comes from the
Speaker, who defended the Prime Minister¡¦s action as
not something extraordinary, and said: ¡§Some
parliaments in other countries EVEN directed the
telecast to the public.¡¨ (Note the operative word
EVEN.) The Speaker¡¦s logic seems puzzling on first
appearance. However, upon further deliberation, it is
clear what the Speaker meant was that, since the
people of a country are already entitled to watch the
proceedings of parliament through television, the
prime minister should of course be EVEN MORE entitled
to monitor parliamentary sessions through his TV.
Before we proceed further, we have to understand the
connotations associated with TV surveillance. When the
head of a department monitors the goings-on in his
general office through his TV, it implies he is
superior to the people he is monitoring on. Hence, the
first connotation is that the surveilant is superior
to his objects.Now, it may be acceptable for the head
of a department to do so over his general employees
(though many would resent it), it is not acceptable
for the chairman of a company to monitor the meetings
of the directors through his TV (in case some one else
is chairing the meeting). Why?
This is because such monitoring is considered below
the dignity of the directors. Hence, the second
connotation is that only low ranking personnel accept
TV surveillance.With these connotations, the Prime
Minister has in effect reduced the status of
Parliament to that of a branch in his Prime
Minister¡¦s Department. Adding salt to injury, he has
done so without the knowledge of Parliament.
That he did not think it necessary to inform
Parliament in advance confirms his utter contempt for
that Institution ¡V a mere rubber stamp to his
will.Back to the Speaker¡¦s logic. When he said the
Prime Minister was more (or even equally) entitled to
what the people are entitled to when it comes to the
right to watch parliamentary sessions in camera, he
was committing the cardinal sin in a democracy ¡V he
has demeaned the status of the people, and he has also
implied that the Prime Minister is above the people.
In a democracy, the PEOPLE are supreme.
Parliament is the supreme institution in a democracy
only because it represents the will of the PEOPLE.
Parliamentary sessions are telecast to the people in
some countries, because those governments recognize
the people as the supreme masters, and respect their
rights to know how their representatives are doing in
the House. The same privilege cannot be extended to
any individual when the purpose is for surveillance,
certainly not even the Prime Minister.Considering the
fact that the Speaker has presided over the House for
more than a decade, his low mentality and his shameful
conduct only reveals the degraded state of existence
of our Parliament.
Equally contemptible are the disgraceful behaviours of
the MPs from the ruling party, who reacted to such
affront on their dignity with such shamelessness.
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Harun Aminurrashid:
DeNgaN IziN ALLAH BN PasTi TeWAs !!!
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