A plea to the king


YESTERDAY marked another day where the country and her people are put to the mercy and the greed of its politicians.

Everyone is claiming to be doing things for the people and for the king, ruling and opposition parties alike.

The classic era of two-party politics lies behind us.

Politics in our country have become so fractious that it is impossible and unlikely for any single party to dominate our political scene for years to come.

It looks like the long-term trend in our country will be a fragmented party system, which makes a hung Parliament a possibility in the near future. The saving grace could be the striking disproportionality of our electoral system, which might prevent it from happening.

Coalition politics appears to be the norm and with it comes greater fluidity in politics in the country.

Each party in the coalition is expected to face a painful political squeeze among the partners and possibly assimilated by their larger coalition partners.

Finding out how a coalition government will work, what challenges the system is likely to face in the coming years, how best these can be overcome, the impact of coalition governance on civil servants, Parliament, the media and political parties is something the country will experience in years to come.

It is expected that each political parties and their MPs will be making arrangements to meet the Agong in the next few days with sworn affidavits pledging their allegiance to a coalition or leader of their preference. Some might even switch their allegiance as opposed to the earlier pledge they make to the king in February 2020.

The rakyat recognise and have been aware that personal incentives motivated these politicians to switch and not the interests of the voters who voted them in. Rarely are constituents consulted and their wishes taken into consideration for the switch.

Unfortunately the country does not have laws against party switching, defecting, or floor-crossing in our Parliament, for if such a law was enacted, it would provide safety measures to protect both the government and the opposition against instability arising out of shifts of allegiance.

As there are no laws compelling MPs to vacate their seats if they leave their parties, it motivates the politicians to switch allegiance to another party to form an alternative government.

Majority of voters now realise from events that transpired since May 2018, parties were merely temporary electoral and legislative alliances designed to maximise the election chances of individual politicians and not for the interests of the voters they claimed to serve.

Majority of the rakyat do not want a frequent turnover of government in the country due to the acts of selfish politicians. The people do not value the freedom of individual parliamentary members to switch parties and regard this as incompatible with our Malaysian values.

And majority of Malaysians now do not recognise themselves in any of the major parties, being turned off by the negativity and cynicism that had gradually became the political standard in this country.

In this latest episode, I do hope the Agong, in his wisdom, will adopt the principles of an opposite approach. In addition to seeking a confirmation from each of the MP, each has to state and redefine the values that are relevant for them in serving the rakyat and swear their allegiance to these stated values.

In this way, each of the MP has to engage with their constituents and the rakyat in general in making their political decisions.

The rakyat realise and are aware that our political system will not be self-correcting. The problems are systemic and structural, involving multiple factors that are self-reinforcing.

And the rakyat are hoping and looking at the Agong to kick-start this initiative and in return the rakyat promise they will sustain it so that the many societal needs our nation faces are addressed progressively. – August 4, 2021.

* FLK reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.


Sign up or sign in here to comment.


Comments