Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Mara doesn't need Umno champions, argues Aziz Bari


Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) doesn't need a political party like Umno to champion it as its existence is rooted in law and not determined by the policies or administrative decisions of the government of the day, former UIA law lecturer Abdul Aziz Bari argued today.
"Mara came into being through law and it is not something that is merely done through executive order or policy. Thus whether or not Mara will continue does not necessarily depend on the survival of Umno," he told Malaysiakini.
Aziz was commenting on Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's statement yesterday at the agency's 50th anniversary celebration, that Umno's survival is crucial for Mara to continue to exist and take care of the Malays, as the party was its precursor and arbiter of its continuing existence.
“Mara is born from whose womb? Umno's. Without Umno, Mara would have never existed... Without Umno, Mara would be buried. If Mara is buried, the Malays are finished (tersungkur). The bumiputera are finished. That's why no matter what, we have to defend Umno,” he said.
Aziz argued that whether or not the Malay party is in power will not affect the existence of the agency which is supposed to look after the economic development of bumiputera, and refuted Najib's claim that the Malay party is responsible for its existence.
"In fact the roots and history of Mara in particular go beyond Umno. They came into being as part of the efforts made by the rulers during the durbar meetings which started in 1897.
"Note that Rida, the precursor of Mara, came into existence after the Federation of Malaya Agreement 1948 where the rulers were given the task to uplift the welfare of the Malays," he said.
Malay rulers real arbiter
The constitutional law expert added that the position was later strengthened with the bumiputera special rights as enumerated in Article 153 of the constitution which made it very difficult to abolish it for such requires the consent of the rulers; not just two-thirds majority support in Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara.
"In fact it is the rulers, and not Umno leaders, who hold the key," he argued.
Aziz noted that actually the government of the day does not really have a free hand in laying down policies on Article 153 related matters which obviously include the running of agencies such as Mara, which administratively implements the special rights of the bumiputera defined in the constitution.
"This is because the requirement in Article 38(5) of the Federal Constitution," he explained.
In that specific article it is stipulated that "the Conference of Rulers shall be consulted before any change in policy affecting administrative action under Article 153 is made".
This means that not only is Umno not the arbiter of Mara, the Umno-dominated BN government or any other government of the day, cannot actually make any policy changes with regard to operations of the agency which the administrative implementation of Article 153 of the constitution without the council's permission.
This is why, Aziz concluded, "an enlightened and committed Conference of Rulers" is crucial for the royals to be effective in the check and balance role they play in governance. -Mkini

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