Unlocking the rubber-stamp parliament
It has been almost a year now since Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia has spoken of his plans for parliamentary reforms.
Pandikar also challenged the opposition members of parliament to resign from their constituencies if the parliamentary reforms do not take place under his stewardship.
What and where are the parliamentary reforms that Pandikar has promised about a year ago. Until today, these reforms are yet to take place.
Just exactly what did Pandikar mean by establishing a special chamber to discuss matters of public importance? Currently, we already have two chambers, the Dewan Negara and Dewan Rakyat.
Then, why do we need another chamber for the parliament when the current two chambers are already sufficient to discuss matters of public importance.
Reforms should be focused on the existing chambers in order to enhance their effectiveness, instead of creating another one to deal with some sort of “special” or “important” matters.
Asides, there are also proposals to improve dedicated time to question ministers, shortening the notice period and to allow more time to forward additional questions within a sitting.
The question here is, are all these reforms sufficient to bring about an effective parliamentary system?
Such reforms are useless and ineffective if the Executive continues its supervision over the parliament. Currently, the parliamentary administration and its staffing as well as limited research support are still under the direct purview of the Prime Minister’s Department where speakers of both chambers report directly to the minister in-charge of parliamentary affairs.
Parliament needs to stand out independently
The most important part of a parliamentary institution is its total independence from the control of the Executive organ of this nation, just like the Judiciary system in a Westminster governing system.
Barisan Nasional leaders have always claimed the Westminster system is in place here in Malaysia, but the fact is that such has not existed since 1957.
The administration, staffing and research facilities of the parliament should be put under the purview of a separate and independent Parliamentary Service Commission which should be responsible solely to the Yang Dipertuan Agong, free from whatsoever connection with any governing elements in Putrajaya.
In this, the Parliamentary Service Commission should be the sole custodian of the entire legislation system instead of the Prime Minister’s Department, whereby the speakers of both chambers too should act independently without the need to make references nor consulting any ministers before he or she makes a decision.
The parliament should set its own rules and laws pertaining to the legislation system and its institution.
Did Pandikar ever realise that the independence of the parliament is a matter of public importance which should be addressed immediately?
Strengthening check and balance mechanism
What we have been observing until today is that Dewan Negara and Dewan Rakyat have played very small roles in determining the future and direction of our nation.
Scandals after scandals have been ripping our nation of billions of ringgit from the public coffers almost every year, and many were reported by the Auditor-General but actions against those culprits were too minor, at times too little too late because the parliament failed to play its check and balance role effectively due to its rubber-stamp nature.
The situation of today’s parliament is merely to say 'Yes' or 'No', where all bills are bulldozed through, debates and discussions are so limited that not all MPs have the opportunities to speak up.
The culture of no transparency nor accountability continues to pervade in our nation’s governing system and something must be done to impose oversight on the Executive.
The parliamentary oversight committees overseeing the performance and budgeting of ministries, departments and agencies as well as government-linked-companies (GLCs) are the most important check and balance mechanism which should be established in both chambers of the parliament.
In many nations that follow the British system, they have oversight committees to check on their government’s activities.
Even non-Westminster nations such as United States, Brazil and the Philippines too have congressional committees who organise public hearings to check on their administration’s policies and implementations.
Another effective check and balance mechanism at the higher level which should be in place in the parliamentary system is the institution of shadow cabinet which is yet to come into existence here in Malaysia.
The shadow cabinet is an institution established by MPs from the opposition bench to oversee the performance of the ruling party’s cabinet ministers to ensure that their policies and implementations serve the interest of our people.
Asides, shadow ministers are also tasked to present their alternative policies in order to check and improve existing government implementations.
We would again challenge any BN leaders who still insist that the Malaysian parliamentary system here is at par with the other Westminster nations to prove their facts one by one.
If that notion is indeed true, our nation’s public coffers will not be easily ripped off in billions of ringgit every year. This is because our parliament is standing and watching hopelessly due to many limitations in its system.
