Former minister Rafidah Aziz said our “system” is broken due to “human weaknesses as well as greed. The system can only function to the level of the dedication and commitment of those entrusted with the responsibility as custodians of, and functionaries in, that system”.
While it is a good observation, there is more to it than that. Those entrusted with positions of responsibility have not only failed to live up to expectations but have created diversions along the way to entrap the public into their “shadow plays”.
When a certain public official argued that his powers and actions were based on the Federal Constitution despite the obvious abdication of public responsibility, we foolishly went along with his justifications and the subsequent court judgment based on these very provisions.
We forget that the Constitution, in essence, exists to protect the well-being and the rights of the people against the tyranny of the state. But, as it stands, the Constitution is now an instrument used to protect the government from culpability and accountability. This is a Constitutional government turned upside down and I think we are wasting valuable time and energy engaging in this endless baloney.
Then we have numerous interpretations on what constitutes a legitimate government. We have different “ways” to interpret whether a head of government has lost his support or legitimacy. We had this problem in Perak and it went all the way to the highest court of the land. The same was repeated in Selangor and now we have a similar debacle brewing in Kedah.
Our problems seem endless because we have largely ignored the will of the people in this equation. We have forgotten that ours is the government of the people, for the people and by the people, both in essence and in substance, whether we like it or not. If we ignore this, we are going to have endless problems.
When investigating wrongdoing, we split hairs over procedures, jurisdiction and inter-government decorum. Some potential but privileged wrongdoers are given protection in the name of “fairness” and secrecy. Those given the authority to investigate are heavily restricted and the power to prosecute is based on personal discretion. There is no need for transparency, public accountability and most important of all, the truth.
What baloney is this?
Why adhere to official channels, inter-government decorum and secrecy when these lead us nowhere? When a well-respected foreign government reveals issues or concerns, it demands we pay attention to ascertain the truth, more so when we are not talking about disclosures from a half-baked Attorney-General from Timbuktu.
There are just too many unanswered questions in Malaysia today.
TK Chua is an FMT reader.
With a firm belief in freedom of expression and without prejudice, FMT tries its best to share reliable content from third parties. Such articles are strictly the writer’s personal opinion. FMT does not necessarily endorse the views or opinions given by any third party content provider
Source from FMT Opinion News
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