Bersatu, strengthen your backbenchers first then talk about sincerity

In our current political climate, Bersatu has the largest majority in Parliament and in the executive cabinet of the government. This will lead to instability in the coalition management of Perikatan Nasional.

With Azmin Ali and other PKR defectors MPs officially labelled as Bersatu representatives in Parliament, Bersatu has 81.8 percent, on which the margin is larger than other component parties compared to BN which has 51.06 percent and PAS and GPS which have the same percentage of 44.4 percent in the executive cabinet.

In terms of specifics, in the executive cabinet (69 ministers including deputy ministers), Bersatu has 27 ministers, while BN has 24 ministers, PAS has the same number of executive representatives as GPS which consists of eight executive members and others have one member each representing PBS and Star.

Bersatu has only four MPs among the backbenchers and the rest are from BN (19 MPs), PAS (10 MPs) and GPS (10 MPs) who support or do their job to check and balance the executive. The question is, why does Bersatu have the lowest number of backbenchers compared to BN, PAS and GPS? Is the “backbenchers” title not glorious enough compared to the “cabinet member” title?

If we talk about check and balance on the executive, Bersatu has only a small number of representatives in Parliament. If Bersatu really wants to continue with parliamentary reform, they need to lower the number of their executive representatives and put them in the backbenchers' section.

I am worried that if the backbenchers' institution is not strengthened, only the opposition parties will be the ones who push and politicise parliamentary reform. Compared to other component parties, Bersatu has 81.8 percent representation in the executive cabinet and this shows that the government led by Bersatu does not focus on balancing coalition management and chases for more power.

In politics, a person's strength is based on the numbers that he has but Bersatu seeks to abuse those numbers for the sake of power, to maintain its reign in Putrajaya and say no to equity politics. 

Equity politics is important, this government needs that kind of practice in terms of coalition management. This core (equity politics) is a part of BN’s philosophy where we believe in the importance of political equity instead of equality politics.

Simply put, if Bersatu cares about parliamentary reform and empowering the backbenchers, they need to reduce the number of their executive members and replace them with backbenchers. At the end of the day, backbenchers hold the key to every decision made for this country in Parliament and not the government. The government only initiates and facilitates the process.

I hope that this article explains the current uncertainty of our political climate and instability inside Parliament.

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The writer, Muhammad Shaqib Shahrilnizam is information chief, Pulai Umno Youth. - Mkini