QUOTE
Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools that don’t have brains enough to be honest. – Benjamin Franklin
Governments will become more and more effective when the Running Out Of Tricks (R-O-O-T) cause ushers in clean and corruption-free government. Machiavelli and his ardent supporters, admittedly, are dangerous to honest government.
Strange that an intellectual heavyweight like Benjamin Franklin missed the point that electing brainless fools into the office of public trust is a self-inflicted wound by another brainless lot. Providentially, Article 48(1)(a) (disqualification for membership of Parliament) Federal Constitution is a brain trust.
The major trick, or deception, is to advertise through the state-controlled media that the economy is safe and secure despite rising costs of necessities caused by uncontrollable inflation. That’s the root cause of disaffection, disappointment and disillusionment.
The public duty demands its constitutional right to request answers through meaningful Petitions to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the Cabinet, PMX and the Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat. It rarely happens.
Accountable government is responsible government. Accountability with responsibility must translate into ability to govern. If that is not possible, then, government becomes a permanent disability suffering zero mobility.
Government policies and projects employing and deploying chicanery, deception and tricks are shamelessly exposed these days. There was a time, 1981-2003 to be specific, when criticising the government invited charges of sedition, causing disaffection and incarceration.
Just listen to the remarks spewed by some politicians. Just review the public policies articulated and deployed. The barracudas in the private sector wait to feed the hungry sharks wanting more and more of the surreptitiously offered goodies that supposedly keep the MACC on guard.
The reservoir of vital information encounters endless drought. The public is thirsty. Tricks don’t cut it. The public is forced to speculate while the rumor mill operates non-stop. They morph into fake news, and the drama begins.
The most disgusting and disgraceful trick is the politicians’ ability to remain silent on issues that are screaming for disclosure. It’s dubbed “elegant silence”. When apprehended, they display a winning grin with raised hands for waiting photographers.
Like corruption, trickery has become part of our culture. Media reports that policies are afoot to eradicate corruption is another trick. More laws to fight all our social ills are impotent. Root cause: lack of preventive measures and enforcement.
So, is there hope for the coming generations with newer tricks and deceptions? Elections have become tricks too in that they deceive the voters into believing that change and reform are eagerly waiting to drench the rakyat like a pregnant rain cloud.
Political scientists believe that “when there is no sharing of power, no rule of law, no accountability, there is abuse, corruption, subjugation and indignation. The government is so out of control. It is so bloated and infested with fraud and deceit and corruption and abuse of power.”
Are we short on the ability to resolve this sickness? Don’t we have enough dedicated professionals ready, willing and able to remedy this uncontrollable malaise? Or are we repercussion-conscious?
The Malaysian judiciary has exhibited a professional, ethical and moral sense of purpose in their widely read and well-reasoned judgments. Unfortunately, our independent judiciary does not have its own judgment enforcement agencies.
Somebody got the doctrine of the separation of powers wholly mixed up when the independent judiciary must depend on other organs of government to enforce their judgments.
The root cause of myopic government is the Westminster monster still leading us by the nose. When will we be rid of this worn-out leash? English “common law” needs to be replaced by our very own consecrated principles of adat.
Reformasi has almost become a hackneyed word these days. It was a noble ideal when first espoused in 1998. Today, it’s like a tattered scarecrow attracting mocking crows to sit on its outstretched arms.
“National unity” and “equality” constitute two tricky and treacherous words when seen through the “spark in the powder keg” – Article 8(2) Federal Constitution that grants the government unimpeded constitutionally consecrated discriminatory powers.
“Except as expressly authorised by this Constitution, there shall be no discrimination against citizens . . .” These fourteen ominous words constitute the root cause of Malaysian pathos.
But our courageous judiciary took Article 8(2) by its horns in 2011 (pregnant woman’s right to employment); in 2014 (transgenders’ right to cross-dress); and in 2021 (citizenship rights for foreign born children to Malaysian mothers).
Gratifyingly refreshing that our judiciary decided to invalidate an unjust constitutional provision probably by applying Article 162(6) Federal Constitution to upend and undo the mischief caused by Article 8(2) as a common law amendment, at least.
PMX and his Cabinet while exercising limited Executive power, ought to learn that people who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. What was Reformasi all about? Surely not rhetorical promises and polemical assurances.
Another root cause of our problems is simply a refusal by the government to change for the better. How long will it take to abandon old diehard policy-making habits?
There is hope that a people-centric Malaysian government will evolve one day when race, religion and region will be remembered as ugly relics of a bygone era.
We are not asking the Madani government to do the tango on a pinhead. The public demands oral choices and value judgments matter most all the time. Madani must deliver and not just prepare for elections to stay in power.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of Sarawak Tribune.
