Forget shadow cabinet, reform Parliament first
This article was earlier published in TheAntDaily.com on 5/11/2013
Since 2008, Barisan Nasional leaders have been openly challenging the opposition coalition, Pakatan Rakyat, to reveal its shadow cabinet in Parliament. Some of these BN leaders also accused the opposition of disunity as it had failed to agree on the composition of members in the shadow cabinet among PKR, DAP and PAS.
We all know that the institution of shadow cabinet is not recognised at all in our nation. Worst of all, opposition members of parliament are also not provided with annual allocations for their constituencies like their counterparts in BN. Instead, those funds are channelled to BN-appointed constituency coordinators, who are better known as “fake MPs” by our people.
So, why are those BN leaders still harping on the shadow cabinet when they know this institution has not even been recognised by their own government and it was not supposed to exist in the first place?
According to BN, our nation has been adopting the Westminster style of parliamentary system but what we are seeing is different; it is more like an Arabic system.
If the BN government is really sincere in wanting to provide the opposition with more avenues in carrying out its check-and-balance role in the administration, reform the parliamentary system, first and foremost.
Getting the shadow cabinet in place is not a priority at all, especially when the current parliamentary system still performs like a rubber-stamp institution; therefore, how is the shadow cabinet going to perform in such a situation? Reforming the parliamentary system should be on top of the agenda because when this institution is revamped, the entire segment of the system would eventually change for the better, as these sections are closely related to one another.
The Auditor-General’s Report had revealed that corruption, mismanagement and power abuse have been rampant in the BN government for many years even until today. Public funds are being misused like nobody’s business. Some quarters in the civil service had also become part of the conspiracy with powerful political circles to misuse the public funds for their personal interests.
To date, we have not seen any concrete measures to get rid of such negative elements which had cost the government billions of ringgit every year. Such huge losses had become an annual event because of the “tidak apa” attitude. Then, the budget deficit is also sky-rocketing.
Why has it been so ineffective from the government side to stamp out such corrupt practices? Is it because the losses in billions of ringgit are too small to be counted for? Or that those civil servants misused the public funds because they are “too stupid”? Yes, no action taken on these errant civil servants because they are merely “fools” (according to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission not long ago).
There is no political will or commitment from these BN leaders to ensure that these daylight robbers within the administration are booked and sent to prison for good. Where and when should the political will and commitment come from? Of course, it should be engineered from Parliament, but the current system had proven that this institution is a rubber-stamp Parliament.
If the BN leaders are sincere about the “national reconciliation” that they have been talking about, extend their hands to the opposition by first having the entire parliamentary system revamped in order for it to work in the interest of the general public and not one group of political elites.
Parliament should be reformed to allow the formation of select committees to oversee the performances of ministries, departments and agencies of the government. The purpose of these select committees is to examine topical issues and matters, which involve the work, budget and expenses of the ministries, departments and agencies to ensure that these sectors perform in accordance with the standards and procedures, as well as to uphold the practice of good governance in the administration.
The membership of the select committees should consist of both sides of the political divide, prominent NGOs, professionals and civic organisations in order democratise the participation of formulating government policies. Then, MPs from both sides should also be allowed to vote with their conscience instead of sticking only to the rules of their respective coalitions or political parties.
What else could the select committees do? They could do wonders. The select committees should be allowed to summon ministers, deputy ministers, ministry secretaries-general, department heads and even CEOs of government-linked-companies (GLCs) for hearings on the methods of governance, to scrutinise their various performances in order to ensure that competency, accountability and transparency are in order in the interest of the general public.
Apart from that, these select committees should also be tasked with scrutinising bills in detail before they are tabled in Parliament for debate and voting. The public ought to be given an avenue to make submissions to the select committees by offering support, criticism and comments. In other words, the determination of a bill in Parliament should be constructive.
This is what parliamentary democracy really is. This is how determination of public policies is made via people’s consultation. This is how political commitment works from the ground right to the top level, the real Westminster parliamentary system.
