Time perhaps for ‘tag-team’ style governance
The struggle among Pakatan component parties to secure other Cabinet positions becomes less intense, because via the viceroy they each have effective administrative influence where real change can take place, especially in the zone where they have the greatest support.
By Suflan Shamsuddin, Free Malaysia Today
COMMENT I have been a long-time sceptic of Pakatan Rakyat. But having laboured long and hard over how they might share power, I am now warming up to them.
I am beginning to sense that they might actually be a viable alternative to Barisan Nasional (BN), provided they are willing to make some fundamental changes in the way they think about power sharing.
If they can discard the conventional wisdom of operating a federal government, and build a new model suited to Pakatan, then it might just work.
Imagine three fuels — leaded, unleaded and diesel. These fuels, when mixed together, cannot power any car. But yet each fuel could be used to run a specific kind of car quite effectively. And this is, to me, the key to solving Pakatan’s power-sharing impasse.
If Malaysians insist on having Malaysia governed centrally as a single unit (like riding in one big bus with one driver using one fuel), then BN remains the only option.
Pakatan fuels cannot be used for this bus when mixed together. But what if we threw out the “single bus” model and opted for a “tag-team model” instead?
The tag-team model would mean that there would be separate vehicles going forward independently, but yet working together, supporting one another, even competing with each other, and united and bonded by the desire to get everyone to the same destination.
How it works
Let me elaborate.
For illustrative purposes, Malaysia could be divided into three distinct socio-economic zones: the West Coast of the peninsula; the East Coast; and Sabah and Sarawak. Each zone is like a vehicle in this tag-team model.
The tag-team model would have the following governance structure:
Firstly, a “presidential-like” prime minister who would oversee all matters related to holding the federation together and bringing it forward for the sake of all Malaysians. His responsibilities would therefore include all portfolios, but only in so far as they are truly relevant at national level (much like that of a US president).
He would then delegate his executive authority in relation to the administration of federal matters for each zone to an appointed viceroy. The viceroy for each zone would in essence be the driver of the vehicle in the tag team.
The viceroy’s federal responsibility for his zone might include finance, trade and industry, education, religion, health, infrastructure and human capital development, tourism, youth and culture, and so on.
The federal Cabinet will ensure that each zone is allocated a fair and equitable share of the federal budget to enable the viceroy to do his job.
The viceroy would be a full member of the Cabinet and would remain answerable to the prime minister.
The viceroy for the West Coast might be from PKR or DAP (or this zone could itself be split into two to make for easier governance). The viceroy for the East Coast might be from PAS. And the viceroy for Sabah and Sarawak might be from a new Pakatan component party representing those states.
The viceroy would be selected by the prime minister in consultation with party leaders. Although he represents the party to which he or she belongs, the viceroy must be independent and be willing to put the interest of the country first before the zone or the party he or she represents.
The prime minister will manage all inter-zone affairs himself in the interest of the country as a whole. But beyond that, each zone will naturally go forward based on the policies of Pakatan to whom its viceroy belongs.
Yet the administration of the zones will be structured to promote and foster collaboration and co-operation, and be subjected to the collective accountability of the Cabinet and be in compliance with the Federal Constitution.
The struggle among Pakatan component parties to secure other Cabinet positions becomes less intense, because via the viceroy they each have effective administrative influence where real change can take place, especially in the zone where they have the greatest support.
Other federal ministries will focus on national policy development but will no longer wield the authority to effect real change on the ground since this is left primarily to the viceroy.
This would be a total departure from the BN governance model of today.
