ON March 7, R.S.N. Rayer (Jelutong-PH) when debating the Supply Bill 2023 in parliament, urged the Home Ministry to probe PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang over his remarks that there are efforts to overthrow the unity government by Perikatan Nasional (PN).

The DAP member of parliament said the remark made by the Islamist party chief would fall under section 124B of the penal code which states: “Whoever, by any means, directly or indirectly, commits an activity detrimental to parliamentary democracy shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 20 years.”

It is debated whether Hadi’s remarks might contravene the sacrosanct concept of parliamentary democracy, which is part and parcel of our democratic set-up. One must understand that the concept of parliamentary democracy lies primarily on the notion that the ultimate responsibility of making laws rest with parliament, members of whom are elected by the people. In Kerajaan Negeri Selangor & Ors v Sagong Tasi & Ors [2005] 4 CLJ 169, the Court of Appeal observed that:

“In a system of parliamentary democracy modelled along Westminster lines, it is parliament which is made up of the representatives of the people that entrusts power to a public body. It does this through the process of legislation. The donee of the power – the public body – may be a Minister of the Crown or any other public authority. The power is accordingly held in trust for the people who are, through parliament, the ultimate donors of the power.”

Parliamentary democracy is a system of government in which citizens elect representatives to a legislative parliament to make laws for the country. In a parliamentary democracy such as ours, legislative sovereignty rests with parliament while administration is left to the executive government, subject to a measure of control by parliament through its power to force a change of government.

So to say, parliamentary democracy is the system where we elect the representatives to make laws on behalf of us in the legislature or so-called parliament. A proper parliamentary democracy is where the change of government could happen through elections where the will of people is demonstrated.

Democracy is not solely about toppling the government. Instead, democracy is about performing checks and balances for the sake of good governance. Under a good governance framework, we must have a government that is obliged to control itself. Good governance is always linked to elements such as accountability and transparency where in a democratic society, the governments should be accountable to the people for the decisions or acts which should be made in a transparent manner. Without good governance, the will of people would eventually drive people who could exert their power by casting the votes to change the government.

Interestingly, we had the anti-party hopping law passed recently where the consequences of “hopping” could not be invoked when a political party joins a coalition or leaves a coalition to join another, as per article 49A of the Federal Constitution. It is inevitable if such manner is what the PAS president is planning as this is implicitly allowed according to our constitution, which as well could be amended by the parliamentarians who have been elected by the people.

Parliamentary democracy shines if the will of the people is manifested. And we must understand that within democracy, a government is merely an agent of the people. Government in a democratic nation is representative and it exists to serve the people. Under representative democracy, the majority is elected to represent the whole and serve the whole as well. Hence, I agree that to change the government could be normal, depending on the people who seeking for the betterment and advancement of the country.

* Beston Tan Yon Chin 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.