Inter-Research And Studies (IRAS)

In parliamentary form of government, citizens do not vote directly for a chief executive. They vote for the legislative representatives or members of parliament who are organized into a few political parties. This in turn suggest that the parliamentary form of government by itself is not an index of democracy or authoritarianism characterizing any given state. But all parliamentary systems have in common a close institutional relationship between the executive and legislative branches of government. The chief executive is a prime minister selects other ministers of government which constitutes the cabinet or council of ministers. Each cabinet minister is responsible for administering a particular department or ministry i.e. defence, education, interior affairs, foreign affairs, justice, finance and so on. And the cabinet is voted into or out of executive office by a majority of the parliament.

We are expressing our grave surprise and shock over the statement by woman deputy minister saying this in the parliamentary session that the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community are not protected constitutionally. First of all, what does she mean not protected constitutionally? Does the Federal Constitution state exactly what gender are not protected constitutionally? What we saw in Article 8 (1) and (2), is that it only mention that there will be no discrimination against any gender, religion, race, birth place and descent. The interpretation made by a member of the Barisan Nasional (BN) government itself is inaccurate and wrong as the view given was seen as purely the deputy minister's own opinion. Should the BN government were to endorse the view of the deputy minister, what then will the BN government's policy on the LGBT community at large? How will the authorities or religious enforcement going to handle such situation should the BN government de...