When high values are conspicuously missing

 

Democracy is not the perfect system. Yes, it has its own Achilles' heel. Nonetheless, it is the most reasonable option to regulate all the political actors.

The entire basis of democracy boils down to this - duly respect and honour the voices of the people or masses. Therein lies its supreme strength.

Historically speaking, the term democracy is often said to have derived from these two Greek terms, namely demos (people) and kratos (rule). These two words were then duly amalgamated in order to form a new vocabulary,  demokratia.

Since democracy is closely associated with the "voices of people", the people have been duly brought into the process of governance, in particular, in electing any government which seeks to represent them.

The road to democracy has not been straight and safe, however. It was unduly plagued with a plethora of tragedies and even bloodshed.

Despite the fact democracy duly values the vox populi - the voices of people - so much so it is often presumed to be akin to vox dei or the voice of God, in its infancy stage, nevertheless, not all people were allowed to participate in democracy.

The women, for instance, have to fight for their rights in order to duly participate in the democratic process.

In America - the so-called champion of human rights and democracy - the right of women to suffrage was only recognised in 1920 when Congress finally ratified the 19th Amendment of the US Constitution.

Malaysians first tasted the fruit of democracy in 1955 when the first general election was held then. The majority of seats were won then by the Alliance Party. PAS won the remaining one seat.

Since then, general elections were steadily held until May 9, 2018.

Truth be told, the past Malaysian general elections were pregnant with many unfair or undemocratic elements.

Despite such infirmities and deficiencies, political actors seemed to be able to exhibit great sportsmanship in the past. No attempt to steal the people's mandate despite the loud voices of dissatisfaction of the election process.

May 9, 2018, created a milestone in Malaysia democracy. It almost surprised the entire globe. Many civilised nations were taken aback. 

Never crossed in their minds a country like ours would be able to have the regime change via peaceful means, ie by a democratic election.

Unfortunately, the victory of such a democracy was short-lived indeed. Yes, the real triumph of our democracy only managed to survive for a period of 22 months.

The infamous Sheraton Move paved the way for the emergence of a government without the people's mandate, for the first time in Malaysia.

All of a sudden, we also saw the inundation of many so-called constitutional experts who have the audacity to literally interpret the constitution as if they were interpreting a will. 

They happily jettisoned the solemn principles of high values, duly embodied in our apex law, into the drain.

The high values in the constitution which is encapsulated in the doctrine of constitutionalism have been easily forgotten. As a result, the supremacy of our constitution is no longer honoured and respected.

With the greatest respect, I would argue that the Federal Constitution would never recognise any form of unmandated government.

Otherwise, the existence of substantial provisions on matters relating to the election in our constitution is simply meaningless, insignificant and illusory.

Elections, which are the emblem of democracy, signify the existence of high values in the constitution. 

It implies the necessity of having a government that is duly answerable and accountable to the vox populi.

It goes without saying that this can only be materialised with the existence of a mandated government.

With utter dismay, I must say this. Some of our political actors or even parliamentarians, unfortunately, tend to forget their prime roles.

They tend to believe that their roles are akin to welfare officers only.

Instead of indulging in policy-making exercises, they tend to waste their talents to do other things.

Some of them, unfortunately, fail to realise that they are obligated to promote high values in the polity. 

That is, in my view, is the raison d'etre of one's involvement in politics.

The first step to do that would be by not compromising in any uncompromisable principles. - Mkini

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MOHAMED HANIPA MAIDIN is Amanah's MP for Sepang and a former deputy minister in the prime minister's department for legal affairs.

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