Strengthening parliamentary democracy

THE majority of the 113 Members of Parliament (MPs) who gave full replies to The Nut Graph’s MP Watch: Eye on Parliament project, after the 2008 elections, wanted to see parliamentary democracy strengthened in a variety of ways. They were asked to answer the question, “If there was one thing you could do to strengthen parliamentary democracy in Malaysia, what would it be?”

The top two measures MPs specifically mentioned were reforming election practices and having parliamentary select committees. Eighteen MPs wanted changes to the electoral system, including to the Election Commission (EC). Another 19 said instituting select committees to monitor each government ministry and to scrutinise bills was the step they would take. Others wanted to see various types of changes in Parliament.

Change wanted in Parliament

Seven Pakatan Rakyat (PR) MPs – five from PKR, and one each from PAS and the DAP – wanted the opposition’s role to be recognised by:

having equal time for opposition MPs to debate, and for their motions and private members’ bills to be heard;

releasing federal constituency funds to opposition MPs; and,

recognising an opposition shadow cabinet.

Other MPs’ answers that were related to improving Parliament were:

reduce the use of the party whip and allow MPs to vote according to their conscience (proposed by three independents, three from Umno, and one each from MCA, Gerakan and DAP);

give the speaker the full mandate to run Parliament and remove the executive’s power to interfere (one each from DAP, PAS and PKR, and an independent);

form more bipartisan caucuses among MPs (one each from PKR, Umno and MIC, and an independent);

restore the Parliamentary Services Act to make Parliament administratively and financially independent of the executive (one each from PKR, MCA and PBB);

have stricter rules on MPs’ morality, and on their conduct in the House to prevent MPs from using debates to gain political mileage (one each from PRS, MIC and Umno);

hold live telecast of debates (one each from MIC and PKR);

place law-drafting under Parliament instead of the Attorney-General’s Chambers (one each from MIC and PKR);

have more cooperation between opposition and Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs (two from Umno);

have more time for bills to be debated and for the quality of debates to be improved (two each from PKR and Umno, and one from MCA);

increase MPs’ salaries and allowances to be on par with the region (one from Umno);

increase funding for MPs to hire researchers and support staff (one from MCA, two from PKR, one from PAS, one independent);

give Parliament more authority (one from MCA);

let Parliament sit more often (one from MCA); and

let Parliament be the ultimate body to make law and be a forum for public critique (one from Umno).

Eight MPs wanted a freer press, while six said the public and politicians should be educated about parliamentary democracy. Two MPs wanted the separation of powers among the branches of government to be fully practised, two others wanted a two-party system, and another two suggested voting in a new government. Three MPs proposed making agencies like the police, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and others accountable to Parliament.

Several MPs answered the question rather vaguely and were off-topic in some cases. These answers included realising 1Malaysia, having loyalty to King and country, supporting anything that benefited the public, ensuring only the right laws were passed, giving society more overall freedom, banning party-hopping, strengthening the public delivery system, stopping race-based politics, and practising democracy daily.

Reforming the EC

Of the 18, listed below, who wanted election reforms as a way to strengthen parliamentary democracy, the majority were from the PR, with seven from PAS, seven from the DAP, and two from PKR. Only one BN MP, from Upko, clearly asked for election reforms, while one from Umno hinted at reforms by asking for cleaner and more ethical elections.

Name	Constituency	Party	Coalition
Ab Halim Ab Rahman	Pengkalan Chepa	PAS	PR
Che Uda Che Nik	Sik	PAS	PR
Mohd Hayati Othman	Pendang	PAS	PR
Siti Mariah Mahmud	Kota Raja	PAS	PR
Mohd Abdul Wahid Endut	Kuala Terengganu	PAS	PR
Mohd Hatta Ramli	Kuala Krai	PAS	PR
Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff	Rantau Panjang	PAS	PR
Fong Kui Lun	Bukit Bintang	DAP	PR
John Fernandez	Seremban	DAP	PR
Lim Lip Eng	Segambut	DAP	PR
Manogaran Marimuthu	Teluk Intan	DAP	PR
Teo Nie Ching	Serdang	DAP	PR
Teresa Kok	Seputeh	DAP	PR
Tony Pua	Petaling Jaya Utara	DAP	PR
Anwar Ibrahim	Permatang Pauh	PKR	PR
Hee Loy Sian	Petaling Jaya Selatan	PKR	PR
Siringan Gubat	Ranau	Upko	BN
Ismail Kassim	Arau	Umno	BN

Some answers were general in calling for “a free and independent EC” and “clean and transparent elections”, while others answered in more detail with examples such as:

announcing general elections six months in advance;

automatic voter registration upon the age of 21;

making the EC answerable to Parliament; and

having proportional representation or “one person, one vote”, and ending the manipulation of electoral boundaries.

Political analyst Wong Chin Huat and lawyer Andrew Khoo both agree that, of all the MPs’ suggestions for strengthening parliamentary democracy, reforming the EC would be the hardest to implement.

Khoo observes that some of the MPs’ complaints about the electoral system such as boundary delimitation, where small urban constituencies end up having more voters than large rural seats, would require constitutional changes. So, too, would proposals for automatic voter registration.

There is also the problem of the executive assigning the EC more power than necessary, Khoo says. This was demonstrated when the EC, instead of the speaker, was allowed to decide on casual vacancies in the state legislative assembly during the Perak crisis in 2009.

Most feasible: Parliamentary committees

Of the 19 MPs who wanted select committees, most were from the PR, with four each from the DAP, PKR and PAS. The others included three MPs from Umno, two from the MIC, and one each from PBB and SAPP.

Name	Constituency	Party	Coalition
Charles Anthony Santiago	Klang	DAP	PR
Fong Po Kuan	Batu Gajah	DAP	PR
Loke Siew Fook	Rasah	DAP	PR
Teresa Kok	Seputeh	DAP	PR
Abd Khalid Ibrahim	Bandar Tun Razak	PKR	PR
Chua Tian Chang	Batu	PKR	PR
Nurul Izzah Anwar	Lembah Pantai	PKR	PR
Sivarasa Rasiah	Subang	PKR	PR
Kamarudin Jaffar	Tumpat	PAS	PR
Mujahid Yusof Rawa	Parit Buntar	PAS	PR
Nasharudin Mat Isa	Bachok	PAS	PR
Salahuddin Ayub	Kubang Kerian	PAS	PR
Abdul Rahman Dahlan	Kota Belud	Umno	BN
Azmi Khalid	Padang Besar	Umno	BN
Bung Moktar Radin	Kinabatangan	Umno	BN
Devamany Krishnasamy	Cameron Highlands	MIC	BN
P Kamalanathan	Hulu Selangor	MIC	BN
Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar	Santubong	PBB	BN
Chua Soon Bui	Tawau	SAPP	Independent

Instituting standing and select parliamentary committees is the most immediately feasible of the MPs’ suggestions to strengthen parliamentary democracy, both Khoo and Wong agree.

Khoo notes that select committees have worked when they were previous formed, in the first instance to review amendments to the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code in 2004, and in another on National Unity and National Service. Further, most MPs already understand the spirit of how such committees work as many are members of regional parliamentary caucuses, which comprise MPs of different political shades.

“[Forming select committees] could happen tomorrow. The Standing Orders provide for it, but Parliament is not doing [enough of] it,” he says.

“The government must discard the view that select committees might be antagonistic [to the government agenda]. Select committees will give MPs the opportunity to demonstrate bipartisanship and how Parliament’s intended law-making functions should work, instead of being a rubber stamp,” Khoo says.

Wong says Parliament will have to be reformed to become a law-making entity as its original role, as inherited from the Westminster system, was not legislative, but to form the government.

“The government here still sees that as Parliament’s main role. The reforms the UK Parliament has undergone to have the committee system have not been adopted here. For that to happen, Malaysian voters must understand and want the committee system, and must make it a condition for votes in elections,” Wong says.

Promoting bi-partisanship

Khoo adds that instituting committees can also help mitigate the effects of the party whip, which nine MPs said should be relaxed. Umno MP Saifuddin Abdullah argued that applying the whip negated debates in the House because MPs still ended up voting en bloc.

Abolishing the party whip altogether is not feasible because it is required for discipline, but it could be used less, says Khoo. The UK Parliament, for example, allows MPs the “free vote” in matters of conscience, as long as the issue does not run counter to an MP’s party election platform.

Select and standing committees can have the effect of fostering bipartisanship, but they also need to be understood as the result of a collective commitment to being bipartisan. Thus, MPs and the government must first understand and appreciate how bi- or multi-party democracy works for the sake of national interest, says Wong.

“It involves recognising the role of the opposition and of the backbenchers as blocs to keep the government in check. It involves shared leadership with and empowerment of these blocs. And it also requires the civil service’s understanding so they can facilitate bipartisanship,” Wong notes.

As examples, he says UK ministers regularly consult shadow ministers from the opposition on serious national issues, and government backbenchers regularly challenge and question executive decisions.

Senior officials in the civil service, when a coalition government was being negotiated between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats after the May 2010 UK elections, were told to engage the parties and facilitate the forming of a new government.

Another aspect of recognising the opposition’s role would be to release bills earlier to allow more scrutiny, including by the public, Khoo adds. As it is, the legislative agenda is already dictated by the executive, and opposition MPs do not see bills until the day they are tabled for first reading.

Government MPs, however, are given special briefings by relevant ministries or agencies on bills to be tabled. Releasing draft legislation from the Official Secrets Act prior to tabling would also promote better quality debates.

Way forward?

Wanting a committee system, more bipartisan caucuses, recognising the role of the opposition, and letting MPs vote according to their conscience can all be taken as the desire for greater bipartisanship. MPs may not have stated it as such, and some may even be unclear on what this actually involves, but their answers indicate some degree of awareness on what is needed to make the Dewan Rakyat fulfill its role.

However, the number of those who expressed this desire, in comparison with the total of those who replied and who did not, is discouraging, Wong notes.

“The majority of MPs still see their roles as mainly to either oppose or support the executive and to ask for money for their constituencies,” he observes.

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This essay first appeared exclusively in Understanding the Dewan Rakyat, together with other analyses on how our government works. The book also contains the profiles of the current 222 MPs and how they and their parties would vote on key issues of democracy. The book is available at PusatLoyarBurok.