Political pandemic pandemonium

 

Forgive the heading. I couldn’t resist the alliteration. As is, I dropped “parliamentary”, concerned it would be overkill.

On to serious matters… sort of, more like farcical matters (resist alliterative “faecal”).

If the Malaysian body politics was a patient, it is plugged into life-support drips and monitors in an ICU.

The Perikatan Nasional government has been labouring for a couple of years, its sickly pallor and half-hearted energy giving the lie to its insistence that it is hale and hearty, in the pink of health, gathering strength with every passing day.

The events of the past week in Parliament and the palace and (as of this writing) the streets of Kuala Lumpur filled with black-shirted youths, are just a visible eruption, pustular signs of a deep-rooted affliction.

I am old enough to have sat for an examination for the Higher School Certificate (HSC) in Sixth Form. One of my history papers was British Constitutional History. Our text was a huge thick red-cover hardback (I forget the author), that took us from pre-Magna Carta days when Britons were barely evolved from the primordial sludge, downtrodden financial and martial fodder for their lord and king, to the subsequent years of reining in royalty, the history of the two Houses, etc... so many dates and vital legislation I had to memorise… deleted from my memory from lack of use.

I do remember that it was emphasised to us that our parliamentary system was modelled after Westminster, and we had to study the similarities with our constitution.

Ah, the naivete of youth knowing only of life through books. My image of the British Parliament then? The House of Lords sounded like a snooze-fest for geriatric nobility and retired senior civil servants, but the House of Commons was a slug-fest, a cut and thrust of rapier wit, while weighty matters were decided.

Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun

So much for being modelled after Westminster. Our parliamentary week started with an hour of opposition MPs in an uproar because of denial of this and disagreement with that.

They didn’t let Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun make a ruling about their arguments, so he went into DefCon5 and ruled against “everything” they said.

“Sit down. Because none of you MPs want to listen to me, I only have one thing to say. I do not agree with everything you said. Let us continue.”

“None of you MPs want to listen to me” – the speaker of the august Dewan Rakyat apoplectically reduced to admitting such an embarrassing reality.

“I do not agree with everything you said.” That’s telling them off.

This was immediately echoed by a chorus of “We don’t agree with you” from MPs.

Ah, agreement at least on one thing.

This was just a schoolyard squabble compared to the bomb set off by de facto Law Minister Takiyuddin Hassan when he said the emergency ordinances had been revoked on July 21.

When? How come nobody was told? Does the king know? Where is the federal gazette? In the process, was one reassuring answer. Just a technical matter, easily solved, was another.

An almost Monty-Python moment, with an air of blithe, bizarre idiocy, was achieved when the government was challenged on the necessity to have the revocation laid, tabled before both houses for their voting consent.

There, a printed copy laid on your table in Parliament, the requirement of the constitution met. Awesome that the government’s best brains can come up with such a vacuous, ludicrous, ridiculous… (an attack of my alliterative virus again; must try and finish this column without another bout of it).

Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah

Then came the response of the palace, the king expressing his great disappointment that he had been kept out of the loop, promises had not been kept, and advice was disregarded.

Panic in the government. Pandemonium in the House. Sworn defenders of the royal institution now facing cries of “derhaka”. Suddenly playing the role of Hang Jebat rather than Hang Tuah, and we know how Jebat ended.  

Ministers dash off to the PM’s house to figure out a response, while everybody was detained for the rest of the day for medical testing.

After long hours of silence, the government decided it would dig in its heels, take a take-no-prisoners stance.

The government has listened to the advice of the king. It is not obligated to adhere to the advice. (Ignore the king’s charge that he had been given assurances by two officials that the people’s representatives will have their say in Parliament.)

The government has advised the king of its desired action. The constitution obligates the king to follow the advice of the government. Swallow it and sign.

Here we stand, a constitutional crisis brewing, a political impasse. No Parliament thanks to Covid.

This country has a thicket of mandatory formal rituals. The week was capped on Friday with the 62nd birthday of the Sultan of Pahang (also the Yang di-Pertuan Agong). Following the required form, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin posted a birthday greeting and wishes on the occasion.

Daulat Tuanku.

Perfect irony. - Mkini

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THOR KAH HOONG is a veteran journalist.

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