Democracy: One step forward for Selangor, one step backward for Johor

ARCHIVES 2009

By admin-s On Sep 12, 2009

By Guan Sin

I am very very sad as a Johorean. What has happened in the state assembly of Johor last Tuesday is one giant step backward for democracy in the state. As reported by Merdeka Review (pardon the Chinese report; I could not find any report in MK and MI), the state constitution has been amended to give powers to the (notorious) Election Commission in determining when a state seat is vacant. The powers are originally in the hand of the speaker, a representative elected by the rakyat, as with the norm in various other states in Malaysia.

This development is a serious breach of the doctrine of separation of powers in our democracy system. EC, not withstanding its ugly track record in the Perak coup and Kedah state seat of Kota Siputeh affair, is after all mostly a branch of the executive. Although the commisioners are appointed by the Agong, recommendations for their appointments, which the Agong usually would not reject, are made by the prime minister, the executive. By giving such powers to the EC, it is effectively accumulating more powers to the federal government’s executive branch in the prime minister.

In contrast, what happened in Selangor state recently is a step forward for democracy. The state assembly has amended laws to give more autonomy to the legislature.