For the people, a no-win round
(The Edge) MAY 7, 2009 will be remembered for all the wrong reasons, not least of which is the irony that the rule of law came under shocking assault in the tumultuous Perak State Legislative Assembly sitting yesterday.
After tallying the damage from the controversial convening of the assembly while the legitimacy of the new state leadership was being contested in the courts, the conclusion that begs to be drawn is that the people would have been better off without having to witness the raucous struggle for control of the House by both the Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalitions.
The points of contention between the two groupings make a daunting list, and the longer the issues are weighed, the clearer it is that the best way forward is for Perak’s legislators to make a fresh start. This first and fundamental principle must be emphasised, if necessary, a hundred times: that is, the function of the democratic system is to reflect the will of the people. And whenever there is a doubt about what they want, their leaders must seek a fresh mandate from the people in whose name they govern.
In the fiasco that ensued at the opening of the assembly yesterday, the evidence that the lawmakers responsible for the caper in the House make a disappointing bunch was too glaring. To be sure, it was only to be expected that the opening of the assembly would be a heated affair, given the tenuous balance of power between the feuding sides and the controversies surrounding the crossover of three members of the assembly.
However, it is deeply disturbing that the decorum of the House was violated by the thuggish atmosphere that prevailed between members of the two coalitions. In this farcical milieu, it is pertinent to ask whose interests the rowdy members of the House were serving. Is this what the voters elected them to do?
Furthermore, the arrests of scores of people, including elected representatives outside the assembly, smacks of a Third World state rather than a nation that is aspiring to join the ranks of the developed world.
In the end, yesterday’s episode does nothing to improve the legitimacy of the Perak government and is sure to spawn a range of reactionary challenges that will only damage the harmony of the public space. While that struggle continues, there is little hope that pressing matters of governance will get the required attention.
