Shadow over Pakatan cabinet

This article was earlier published in TheAntDaily.com on 12/10/2013

After the 12th and 13th general elections, the leaders of Barisan Nasional have often spoken about the disunity and possible break-up of the opposition coalition, Pakatan Rakyat, due to the latter’s “failure” to form a shadow cabinet in Parliament.

The latest attack came from Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, the Youth and Sports Minister, who said that Pakatan leaders are always bickering internally and that is why the shadow cabinet failed to materialise.

Khairy also pointed out that Pakatan should be more responsible on the opposition bench because, according to the Westminster-style democracy “practised” in our nation, the opposition should have a shadow cabinet in place.

Then, recently Suaram adviser Dr Kua Kia Soong also spoke about the need for Pakatan to quickly get the shadow cabinet in place.

In the first place, Khairy was totally wrong when he said that our nation practises a Westminster-style of democratic system. Which part of our government practises it? Parliament, executive, judiciary? If you carefully review all these branches of government, you will certainly find that all these similarities to the Westminster system are almost gone and in some areas, they do not even exist anymore. What we are seeing right now is the Arabic system of government that is slowly taking place in the current administration.

Okay, let us touch on the Westminster democracy in the United Kingdom. We should be aware that in UK, the opposition bench there is fully recognised and it is even bestowed the title, “Her Majesty’s Most Loyal Opposition”.

The institution of a shadow cabinet in UK is also fully accorded the same status as that of the sitting government under the constitution and an annual allocation is also allotted to the shadow cabinet under the government’s annual budget.

Besides being paid a salary as leader of the opposition, his members of the shadow cabinet also enjoy some allowances and perks for their roles, together with provision of staff and research assistants to support the shadow cabinet in their daily check and balance activities over the sitting government.

Opposition members of parliament in UK also receive their annual allocations for their constituencies similar to those enjoyed by MPs of the ruling party.

But in Malaysia, only the opposition leader is accorded but not fully, with some sort of recognition. The opposition front bench does not exist at all in the current Malaysian parliamentary system under the Federal Constitution.

And although the opposition leader is recognised under the Malaysian parliamentary system, the bearer of this responsibility is not always being respected and has been treated like our nation’s number one enemy most of the time – from the threats of detention under the Internal Security Act, Emergency Ordinance, Official Secrets Act, Sedition Act to whatsoever form of undemocratic mistreatment.

Unlike the Westminster system, the opposition MPs in Malaysia do not get their annual allocations for their constituencies like their counterparts in the ruling BN coalition.

The annual allocations, instead of being channelled through these opposition MPs, are being channelled to “fake MPs” who are appointed by the BN government carrying the title of “constituency coordinators”. So, Khairy, is such practice part of the Westminster system? This is a blatant mistreatment of democracy. It is autocratic.

Then, in our Parliament, do our opposition MPs get reasonable time to present their facts, findings and questions as well as to debate over any bills? Do our opposition MPs have the opportunity to table their motions in Parliament for proper discussion and debate? Why are motions brought up by opposition MPs always get thrown out by the BN-appointed Speaker on grounds that they are of “no importance” at all to our nation? Instead, BN MPs are allowed to speak their minds freely and, on many occasions, for hours on many non-value-added subjects and issues.

There are also no portfolio-based parliamentary select committees to oversee the performances of the government ministries, departments and agencies, like what is being practised in the Westminster system right now. There is only a BN-dominated public accounts committee which is tasked with “overseeing”, but this committee is proven to be ineffective in its role.

Now speaking of shadow cabinet again, if BN leaders are really serious about this, then where are their shadow cabinets in states like Selangor, Penang and Kelantan where BN is sitting on the opposition bench? Until today, they have yet to name their shadow cabinets. This mean, they are politically hypocrites, after all.

Lastly, if BN leaders are serious about wanting the shadow cabinet to be in place, amend the Federal Constitution, revamp the entire parliamentary system, return the annual allocations to the opposition MPs and respect the choice of our people at large.