COMMENT | One day to promise a world-class governance and the next day to destroy it

COMMENT | At least, PN leaders are capable of a world-class joke – one day to promise world-class governance and the next day to destroy the basis for world-class governance by outlawing parliamentary oversight and scrutiny

The one-day sitting of Parliament today is the blackest day of Malaysian Parliament in the 63-year history of the country.

It marks a cabinet which does not accept the Malaysian Constitution and its fundamental principles of the doctrine of the separation of powers among the executive, Parliament and the judiciary and the rule of law.

It is an act which no cabinet which upholds Article 43(3) of the Constitution which stipulates that “the cabinet shall be collectively responsible to Parliament” would do.

With the lockdown of Parliament and the suspension of parliamentary oversight and scrutiny until July, to who is the cabinet collectively responsible to?

It is an act which no cabinet minister would do if he or she is sincere and faithful to the oath of office which he/she took before the Yang di Pertuan Agong under the Sixth Schedule of the Federal Constitution to “preserve, protect and defend” the Constitution.

Malaysia has a cabinet which openly rejects the basis of Malaysian nation-building as set out in the five principles of Rukunegara.

It has ministers from a political party which openly rejects the Rukunegara as the basis of nation-building but this is the first time that this anti-Rukunegara virus has infected all the ministers resulting in the cabinet decision on the one-day Parliament.

Members of Parliament should have met much earlier to address the unprecedented challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic – how to contain the coronavirus outbreak and prevent a resurgence of Covid-19 as well as to quickly revive the Malaysian economy badly devastated by the pandemic.

In other words, how to live with the coronavirus for the immediate future which could last as long as five years and not just 12 to 24 months as earlier thought.

It is sad and tragic that Parliament is meeting just to comply with the constitutional requirement that Parliament should meet at least once every six months.

This instead of ensuring that Malaysia has world-class governance based on robust parliamentary oversight and scrutiny of government policies to steer the country through the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic challenges.

Instead of developing one of the best practices in the world in the invisible war against Covid-19 pandemic, to the eternal shame and ignominy of Malaysia, the nation is indulging in one of the worst practices in the world to enable the misuse of power, rampant corruption, the revival of kleptocracy and widespread violation of human rights.

LIM KIT SIANG is member of Parliament for Iskandar Puteri.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.