The greatest praise government can win, is that its citizens know their rights and dare to maintain them.
— Wendell Phillips, American abolitionist, advocate for Native Americans
Vision, Mission and Provision 2023 has arrived on a firm foothold for politically active citizens and public action councils (PACs) to maintain their frequently forgotten and seldom invoked bundle of claims and rights. The State exists for the sake of the Individual, and not vice versa because both must sacrifice some rights, claims, interests, privileges, duties and obligations under the supreme law of the land in an unapologetic effort to maintain morals, public order, economic life and national security.
PACs must be welcomed for constant interaction with an open-door government because that is the business the latter has agreed to engage in without force or pressure; interact to motivate and enable MPs to raise issues in Parliament relating to the well-being of their constituents; offer significant assistance to lawmakers as it records, catalogues and presents MPs with people-centric parliamentary business; and participate in the passing of necessary, needful and proper laws for the betterment of Malaysian society ranging from airports to zebra-crossings.
It is insulting to the Federal Constitution (FC) for anyone demanding proof from it when it is the leading, controlling and enabling document for all claims, rights, privileges, duties, functions and obligations for the Individual and the State. In other words, the FC is res judicata — settled law — for the proposition that Parliament position itself one step behind the FC.
Public education is certainly another candidate for PACs’ intervention. The State controlling education policy is an affront to human rights even in totalitarian regimes. After all, Article 152 FC grants everyone the right and privilege of learning or being taught in any language other than the National Language (Malay). The ghosts of Merdeka University and UEC issues aside, the State is always beholden to the supreme law of the land, and legislation must stand in the shadows of constitutional supremacy.
Public and private education should offer compulsory subjects such as civics, economics and political science instead of dishing out false and unnecessary knowledge which is more hazardous than ignorance. Society demands an intellectually equipped citizenry that understands the disciplines of government, the governed and governance. Constitutionally, the education system should not be subject to political wont, whim or will.
PACs and the State in constant consultations must exorcise the demon of inflation. It’s the State’s utter responsibility to tackle the periodic rate of increase in prices, and the attendant increase in the cost of living. Find an immunity to inflation. Less money more goods or vice versa, quantity of money matching quantity of necessities, and not too much of either, perhaps? Killing the cause is the only desirable effect.
To ensure the measurability and predictability of all government actions as one of the elementary conditions of the rule of law, both government and administration must be punitively bound by the law. This vital imperative should not morph into a mere platitude but seen to be done with a proactively vigilant judiciary.
An independent judiciary must also mean that our judges should initiate lawsuits sua sponte, as in India, instead of waiting for aggrieved plaintiffs or the Public Prosecutor. Section 128 Criminal Procedure Code should open many eyes as it grants everyone, not necessarily a police officer, to file a complaint with a magistrate instead of a police report.
Our judges, as guardians of our liberties, swear an oath to defend and uphold the Federal Constitution, therefore, it is incumbent upon them to alert the government and the governed that abuses, insults, breaches, violations and disobedience to the supreme law of the land will be attended to with all deliberate speed.
PACs must start playing a preeminent role so that the government and its elected leaders are kept on their toes 24/7. The rakyat should constantly and painstakingly care and step up to the plate. The “tidak- apa” attitude is a constitutional insult, a moral outrage and a sociological self-inflicted slap symbolising a decaying society.
Ministers and civil servants who think they cannot be punished for doing nothing must remember that schoolchildren get punished for not doing their homework.
Aristotle encapsulated the core values of the governed when he remarked that “it is not always the same thing to be a good man and a good citizen.” Ergo, choose ye today whom thou shalt serve. Heed the advice of the likes of Elihu, but shun Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
