Malaysia treading the path to anarchy?
Boniface Willy Anak Tumek, The Malaysian Insider
Parliament is a democratic government legislature, a place where elected representatives of the citizens of a country with a democratic system of government meet to enact the laws for the country, to to be in accordance with their constitution, their supreme law.
Our Malaysian Parliament is exactly that and being all that, it is, to my mind a symbol of our constitution, and therefore the rule of law and the Parliament must be held sacrosanct at all times and by all.
The Parliament is one of our national symbols, along with our national flag, our national anthem and the Coat of Arms.
When India’s Parliament was attacked in December 2001, prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee described the attack as just not an attack on a building but on the entire nation, stopping short of saying it was an act of war against India.
The state assembly buildings of the states within Malaysia bear resemblance to our national Parliament and must be rightfully accorded the same degree of respect and dignity as that accorded to our Parliament. Indeed when state assembly meet, its members will use the term “august house” to refer to the state assembly.
Sadly, this is not what we are seeing in Malaysia today. On May 21, 2014, Malaysians were shocked when a group of people apparently led by no less than the vice-chairman of Umno Youth Penang forced their way into the Penang state assembly building.
This was in response to the supposedly derogatory words spoken by DAP’s assembly man R.S.N. Rayer against Umno.
The group was reported to have consisted of Umno members and some malay NGOs. Umno, as we are all aware, is the dominant partner in Barisan Nasional and is the party to which PM Najib Razak and DPM Muhyiddin Yassin belong.
Malaysians are now confronted with a very disturbing question; is this intrusion of the state assembly building a glimpse into the future of Malaysia in the next decade and beyond? Very obviously we are not talking about a leader among common street ruffians here, although he could very well have been that. This is a state level leader of Umno that we are dealing with.
This act of disrespect was quickly followed up the next day when a group of 50 Umno Youth members staged a noisy demonstration in front of the DAP headquarters and threatened to burn the office down. What happened next has left rationale and law-abiding Malaysians completely dumbfounded.
When asked to comment on that shameful act, Muhyiddin Yassin casually said that those involved in the intrusion were merely defending Umno’s honour and that it was natural to act in that manner when challenged. The nation expected him to condemn in the strongest terms this brazen criminal act but apparently he failed to see the need for it.
In failing to condemn this dishonourable action of his comrades from Umno, he sent out the message that he condones it. On hindsight though, perhaps this is a natural comment from someone who once said he is Malay first and Malaysian second.
We are left wondering who Muhyiddin is a deputy to. Zahid Hamidi, the Home Minister, the big chief of law enforcers in Malaysia was decidedly virulent in his comments on the same matter. He said the threat by Umno Youth members to burn down DAP’s head office was the price that has to be paid.
Najib barely said anything. In a Facebook posting, Najib said it was unbecoming of Rayer to resort to things which incited disharmony but that was all. Not the slightest word on reprimand for his party comrades for their criminal behaviour against a state assembly and for their threats – not even in passing.
And there were no instructions from him to the police, to take the sternest of action, one that commensurate the gravity of the offence.
If these two incidents and the reaction of our leaders to the incidents are placed side by side with the Allah issue and the seizure of the Alkitab issue, one sad aspect of Malaysia’s leadership emerges: our top leaders do not appear to have any concern for the rule of law.
Would it have been considered an understandable and a natural response if members and supporters of Pakatan Rakyat had stormed the Parliament to stop the swearing-in of the new cabinet because Pakatan had won 51% of popular votes cast in the last general election, but denied the chance to form the government?
What if the Catholics had done the unthinkable and had stormed the Court of Appeal to protest its judgement on the Allah case?
To my mind, these failures of the leadership of the country are manifestations of their reluctance to be leaders for all Malaysians, irrespective of ethnicity, colour and creed. Their over-riding concerns seem to revolve on how to remain in office and how to maintain their economic pie. This very deficient approach to political leadership is amply evident in the recent antics of lawmakers in the state of Sarawak.
