Government is organised opinion. Where there is little or no public opinion, bad government is to be expected.– William Lyon Mackenzie King
Truth be told, Madani Affirms Lax Attitudes In Safeguarding Equality (M-A-L-A-I-S-E). This malaise has assumed dangerous proportions that threaten national unity with total disregard for the Federal Constitution.
Does public opinion make a difference to the Madani government? Will they listen to mass protests? Or will they rather have their Dewan Rakyat MPs clamour for change and reform if at all that is plausible, probable or possible?
It has become absolutely trite to refer to the Federal Constitution as the supreme law of the land. There is no constitutional or legislative protection for disobeying the Federal Constitution.
Maybe it’s time the Madani government efficiently used its two-thirds majority in the Dewan Rakyat to promulgate the Disobedience of the Federal Constitution Act.
While at it, PMX and his Cabinet must seriously consider tweaking and adjusting the Federal Constitution that will save our nation from humiliation and embarrassment.
The malaise has become unbearable and unstoppable when we pretend to be a law-abiding nation promoting and advancing equality. Article 8 of the Federal Constitution has become a ticking timebomb.
Read Article 8(2) Federal Constitution to shake and shudder at its import and impact – the supreme law of the land has the power to authorise discrimination!
The malaise has been growing in the Federal Constitution since 1957. What were the Reid Commissioners smoking or drinking when they inserted this dangerous piece of constitutional fiat?
The malaise is becoming intolerable. We may have to morph into a nation of whistleblowers to get the right things done. Will the Madani government act, react or interact?
The Madani government is unable to maintain our roads, streets and highways, but yet has the temerity to contain and restrain Israel in the global sphere of operations.
Equality will engender national unity no matter how one cuts, slices and dices it. The Reformasi leader that PMX is made out to be has to come out of his comfort cocoon and set things right.
Every migrant and emigrant community has contributed to the progress and prosperity of the Golden Chersonese, including the original inhabitants of this peninsula. All are equal.
Article 8 Federal Constitution, despite its disruptive and diabolic subsection 2, needs to be revisited with a deep-seated need for amendment and fine-tuning. The Madani government needs to reboot.
Is this the reason one particular community receives every benefit and advantage at the expense of the marginalised and the disenfranchised? Reason aside, is there a grand purpose?
Will the major benefit and advantages receiving community haw and hem, moan and groan at a minority community receiving equal benefits and advantages?
Or will the Madani government continue with the status quo and pretend there is lasting muhibbah? It is high time PMX thought about something similar to DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) that the new Trump administration will enforce.
Malaysia needs an Attitude Adjustment Agency (AAA) real soon. The AAA will temporarily house errant public servants whose mindsets need re-calibration. Unwanted baggage must be deemed excessive and jettisoned.
Since the Institutional Law Reform ministry is labouring under a newly discovered malady to do nothing, the AAA could be the best antidote to set things in order.
The Holy Quran (English translation) commands equality in many of its verses. If the teachings of Islam are to be taken seriously, then equality too deserves this scrutiny no matter how indiscriminately this constitutional right is regarded in the Federal Constitution.
The government’s focus is pathetic. Irrelevant issues take centre stage. Errant politicians shoot their mouths off, and no reprisals are in sight. One dominant community in a nation that mocks tolerance and equality is an unholy alliance.
Just when you think you are out of the woods with the discrimination allowance of Article 8(2) Federal Constitution, you get enmeshed in another snare at Article 8(4).
Article 8(4) frowns on any public authority practising discrimination. But the grammar and syntax pose an intellectual challenge to deciphering or decoding its intent, reason and purpose.
The Orang Asli will be pleased at the pith and substance of Article 8 (5) (c) as it places them on an elevated pedestal concerning their advancement and well-being.
But logging and mining companies have overshadowed and submerged Orang Asli rights. Restitution and redemption of their fishing, farming, hunting and gathering rights come at a price at the end of uncertain litigation outcomes.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor of the US Supreme Court made an interesting observation: “Until we get equality in education, we won’t have an equal society.”
Justice Sotomayor’s remark must spur Malaysia’s education debacle with several hundred articles and podcasts about what the problem is. How to remedy or find workable solutions is seldom showcased.
The philosopher Plato had an original take: “Democracy is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike.”
One can wonder if the Reid Commission took Plato’s observation to another dimension of misinterpretation. Surely they knew that the heterogenous Malaya needs special prescriptions.
Plato’s pupil Aristotle bettered his master with the astute observation that “the worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.” He could have been equating opportunities with equality.
We have come a long way. How long more to shape and hone equality is a national heritage?
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of Sarawak Tribune.
