What Najib’s reform package should cover

Maybe at this stage it is too much to expect political reforms. That may take a long time because there are too many issues involved. But there is no reason why stage one of these political reforms can’t be achieved — meaning electoral reforms.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Britain went into a sort of political crisis when no one party won enough (majority) parliament seats to form the government — unless they want to form the government with the largest minority or have what we would call a minority government. This transformed the ‘third force’ into the kingmaker — in this case the Liberal Democrats.

What made the Liberal Democrats sore is that they won slightly lesser votes than the Conservative or Labour parties but these votes translated to only 10% or so of the seats. The other two, who both won about one-third of the votes each, won 40% or so of the seats per party.

The Liberal Democrats had three choices. First would be to have nothing to do with either party and let the Conservatives form a minority government, which means it may be a short-lived government once parliament starts since it can’t get enough votes to push its bills through. Second would be to form a unity government with Labour, which will give them more seats than the Conservatives but still a minority government nevertheless. Third would be to form a unity government with the Conservatives and have a majority in parliament — the more stable option.

Ideally, a Conservative-Liberal Democrat option would be the best, as it would be a stronger government because of its majority in parliament. But before the Liberal Democrats would decide which party to work with and whether they even want to form a unity government in the first place would depend on a few conditions.

One of those conditions – which is my ‘pet subject’ – is that the new unity government must introduce political reforms. The Conservatives talked about electoral reforms but the Liberal Democrats were not happy with just electoral reforms. They wanted a wider and bigger agenda. Electoral reforms alone are not good enough. It must be a larger agenda of political reforms, which includes electoral reforms within that package.

This is something I have been talking about for a long time. No, I don’t mean a unity government, although that too I have been talking about. I am talking about the issue of electoral reforms. Maybe at this stage it is too much to expect political reforms. That may take a long time because there are too many issues involved. But there is no reason why stage one of these political reforms can’t be achieved — meaning electoral reforms.

For example: in some countries, it is law that 30% of the candidates in the general election must be women. Now, considering that 52-53% of the voters who come out to vote in Malaysia are women, this would be very reasonable. If not 30% then at least 25% of the candidates must be women — mandatory by law. Is this something impossible for Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to agree to? I would agree to even 33.3% or one-third.

Next would be the seat variations. The Reed Commission proposed a variation of 20%. In some countries this is law and some countries even impose a variation of 15%. For example, if a parliament seat should have about 50,000 voters as its benchmark, then the 20% variation would mean that seats must have between 40,000 to 60,000 voters. Currently, parliament seats in Malaysia vary from 5,000 to 120,000 voters (and more). That variation is just too large and ridiculous.

Another electoral reform would be to allow Malaysians living, studying or working overseas to vote at the Malaysian embassies or high commissions. Currently they lose their right to vote unless they fly home on Polling Day. Even our neighbouring countries allow their citizens to vote in their embassies in Kuala Lumpur.

The postal votes should be only for those who are away on government service on Polling Day. That would include Malaysians working overseas at the embassies/high commissions, TDC, MIDA, etc. Those government officers working in Malaysia, such as armed forces personnel, police, etc., need not vote by post unless they are deep in the jungles on a military operation.

And even the postal voting system needs to be monitored. Political parties should be allowed to witness the voting process and after balloting ends the ballot boxes should be immediately opened and the votes counted, sorted and tallied — and the results documented and certified with signatures of witnesses so that no ‘silap mata’ can be pulled off five days later (like now).

There are many things wrong with the current electoral system and the above are but the tip of the iceberg. But if we can start with just some of those things then that would be good enough for now. Then more can be addressed later as we go along. And once electoral reforms are complete then we can look into the matter of political reforms.

Now would be a good time to do this. Barisan Nasional does not have two-thirds of parliament so they would need the opposition Pakatan Rakyat to also support this reform package and vote in favour of these new bills in parliament.

We can then test the sincerity and maturity of the opposition. If the Prime Minister tables these reform bills in parliament and if the opposition votes against them and does not support them then this would prove that the opposition is opposing for the sake of opposing and not for the good of the country.

Najib talks about reforms. The opposition shouts even louder about reforms. But thus far it is all hot air and no action. I am beginning to get tired of both sides. Can we stop talking and start acting. And the first task in hand is electoral reforms. Do that then talk about the others. But if you can’t do this then stop talking. It is useless to talk about anything else if this basic and simple thing can’t be addressed.