Sigh…are we still debating democracy?

By MT Webmaster Last updated Sep 16, 2014

The question Nadilla Jamil should ask is: why did Anwar not attempt to get that law removed when he had the power to do so? In fact, Anwar was the Acting Prime Minister for two months. In those two months Anwar had the powers of the Prime Minister. Yet Anwar did not want to remove the Sedition Act 1948.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

“What is democracy to you, prime minister?” asked Nadilla Jamil in The Malaysian Insider (READ MORE HERE).

Sigh…I thought we had already discussed this subject at great length but it appears like there are still some who confuse democracy with civil liberties and civility. Nadilla Jamil who questions the prime minister regarding whether he knows what democracy means is herself ignorant about the subject.

Democracy basically means citizens’ power. The word is derived from two Greek words: demos (citizens) and kratos (power). So what is so special or magical about democracy? It just means that the citizens are given the power to decide what they want.

Most people think that as long as we have general elections once every five years then democracy has been achieved. How can you say Malaysia is not a democratic country since Malaysia holds elections?

That is how many people view democracy, even political leaders, cabinet ministers and so on. But that is not full democracy yet. That is just how we choose the government. After that we have to determine how this government rules.

In Malaysia, just like in the UK and many other countries, those who get to form the government are those who win the most number of seats in the assembly (state and/or federal).

Note I said the most number of seats.

Okay, what if the group that won the most number of seats does not win the most number of votes? What if the group that won the most number of votes won lesser seats than the group that won the most number of seats on lesser votes? Who gets to form the government, the group that won the most number of seats or the group that won the most number of votes?

Unfortunately, the group that won the most number of seats and not the group that won the most number of votes get to form the government. That is how democracy works.

Is this fair? Is it fair that the group that won lesser votes get to form the government just because it won the most number of seats?

What has fairness got to do with this? This is about democracy and democracy is not about fairness. In Malaysia, plus in many other countries, the first past the post system is about who won the most number of seats and not about who won the most number of votes. Hence even if 30% of the people voted for you, but as long as that translates to 51% of the seats, then you get to form the government.

So, maybe I should now ask, “What is democracy to you, Nadilla Jamil?”

Okay, let us look at another scenario. Party ‘A’ won 51% of the votes but only 40% of the seats. Party ‘B’ won only 24% of the votes but 29% of the seats. And party ‘C’ won 25% of the votes but 31% of the seats. Who gets to form the government?

Since party ‘A’ won 51% of the votes and 40% of the seats compared to party ‘B’ that won 29% of the seats and party ‘C’ that won 31% of the seats on combined votes of only 49%, then party ‘A’ should form the government.

Okay, what if party ‘B’ and ‘C’ form a coalition or unity government and with their combined 49% of the votes they now control 60% of the seats? Well, then the party ‘B’ and ‘C’ coalition get to form the government even though party ‘A’ won more seats with 51% of the votes.

That is democracy. And that is why Pakatan Rakyat got to form the Selangor state government in 2008 although Barisan Nasional won 20 seats while PKR won just 15, DAP 13, and PAS 8. This is because PKR, DAP and PAS combined their seats to make it 36 versus Barisan Nasional’s 20.

Would you call this unfair? No, this is called democracy.

Hence democracy is not always good.

What happens if in 2008 PAS agreed to form a unity government with Barisan Nasional and together with the Port Kelang State Assemblyman from PKR, Badrul Hisham, who crossed over to Umno soon after that, they go to His Highness the Sultan of Selangor to get sworn in as the new government?

Well, with Barisan Nasional, PAS and Badrul, they will now control 29 of the 56 seats in the Selangor State Assembly so they get to form the government.

Is that what the voters want? The voters gave Pakatan Rakyat 56% of the votes and 64% of the seats. That means the voters want Pakatan Rakyat.

Maybe so, but what the voters are going to get instead is a new unity government between Barisan Nasional and PAS with Badrul giving that one seat extra that they need to steal the government.

And that, Nadilla Jamil, is democracy. And do you think the prime minister does not know this? And do you think this is not what Anwar Ibrahim tried to do in his September 16th (2008) move, which was an attempt to steal the government through crossovers?

Oh, and Anwar, too, was just trying to do the democratic thing even though attempting to buy 30 Barisan Nasional MPs may not quite be the moral thing to do. But then who cares about morals when it comes to democracy?

And, finally, the group that gets to form the government gets to formulate the laws. The laws may be bad and people like Nadilla Jamil may resent these laws. But under a democratic system this is what is allowed and you cannot scream that this is not democratic just because you do not like the laws.

By the way, the Sedition Act that Nadilla Jamil is so angry about is a 1948 law. That means this law was already in existence in 1982 when Anwar Ibrahim joined the government. And in all those years that Anwar was in the government from 1982 to 1998, he did not make any attempt to repeal or abrogate that law.

Raja Petra Kamarudin RPK