Empowering Majlis Raja-Raja
Separation of powers…. Checks & balances……
Ivan Oh
These are some of the terms we usually come across in a good governance system. However, in the wake of the recent 1MDB scandal, many people no longer believe that such good governance has been truly practiced in Malaysia. Anyone in the government agencies who dares to voice out against the government leaders will most likely be removed from office. If we recall the 1988 judicial crisis, similar events occurred whereby those judges that were not in line with the government were eventually removed.
So how can we amend this? Some might say that if our leaders in office abuse their power, the people could just change the government during election. True…… but that could be 5 years later. What would happen in between those 5 years? We truly need someone with legitimate authority to watch over our government. So who is eligible for such a powerful role?
I hereby present to you our very own Majlis Raja-Raja. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not implying that our Majlis Raja-Raja is something new. In fact, our Sultans’ thrones have existed much longer than our Parliament. However, over time, our Royal Rulers’ function have somewhat been reduced to mainly ceremonial roles. It’s time that our Majlis Raja-Raja is empowered with more meaningful responsibilities.
Under this proposal, while all the royalties will still adhere to Malaysia’s constitutional law and government authorities, there should be a “separate special team” of the following agencies being set up and come directly under the purview of Majlis Raja-Raja without government interference.
1) Police force
2) Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC)
3) Judiciary courts
4) Public prosecutor
Unlike their regular counterparts in public office, these “separate special teams” will only govern all Politically Exposed Person (PEP), both ruling & opposition party members, to reduce biasness.
In the past, many government agencies have often been accused of being partial towards high-ranking officials and we have also witnessed many opposition party members claiming to be unfairly prosecuted and tried. With this separation of power in place, I strongly believe that justice could finally prevail among politicians.
Besides that, the following positions should also be under the purview of Majlis Raja-Raja without government influence and these individuals should not be affiliated with any political parties in order to remain neutral.
1) Members of the Election Commission (EC)
2) Speaker of the Parliament
3) Senators of Dewan Negara (refer to my proposal on Dewan Negara)
4) Yang di-Pertua Negeri
In addition, if EC can truly operate without government influence, I would also like to suggest that any matters related to the registration of political parties should be under the purview of EC instead of the Registry of Societies (RoS), considering that it would be quite difficult for RoS to remain impartial towards the political parties since it is a government agency under the Ministry of Home Affairs. All other non-governmental organisation or society can continue to be handled by RoS.
As I have mentioned earlier, many officers in the government agencies are understandably reluctant to voice out against the government big guns in fear of being removed from office. But since the Sultans’ thrones are mainly hereditary, who better to keep an eye on our government if not our Rulers?
~Daulat Tuanku~
