Democracy never lasts long; there never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.
– John Adams, second US President
“The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern,” lamented Lord Acton. He shared John Adams’s view. There is nobody fit, yet, to save democracy from self-annihilation especially when elected incompetents are at the wheel.
It’s been said that “democracy is a slow process of stumbling to the right decision instead of going straight forward to the wrong one.” Trial and error at the expense of the masses is far removed from a pursuit of excellence.
Aristotle surprised many: “Those that choose not to live under any form of government are either beasts or gods.” But primitive societies fared well without organised government until law and (dis)order proved to be organised crime.
Fundamental rights and privileges are delusional catchwords carefully weighed by three classes of people – perpetrators, acceptors, and the resisters – all of whom wage war on defective, debilitating and deceptive democracy with three totally different tactics.
The judiciary in any democracy is in a constant war between interpreting the law (jus dicere) and making and giving the law (jus dare). The common law (stare decisis) is a pusillanimous excuse ‘to find the law’ during its interpretation stage. Article 162(6) Federal Constitution needs stretching its legs while awaiting constitutional amendments.
Is anyone keeping count of the number of times the judiciary sought Parliament’s assistance when a particular law was caught in the quagmire of ambiguity? Malaysians will be hard-pressed to find such occasions because most judges simply cannot resist the faulty and flawed stand-in (the common law).
“We experience a union between government and religion on a daily basis. You cannot help knowing that such habits tend to destroy government and degrade religion,” cautioned Justice Hugo L. Black of the US Supreme Court. Adult supervision becomes indispensable. PMX must conduct weekly dosages of political science courses for MPs.
“No greater war on democracy can be waged than that which government undertakes as a contagious lawbreaker. It breeds contempt for the law. It invites every man to be a law unto himself; it invites anarchy,” observed another US Supreme Court heavyweight, Louis Brandeis.
Different yearnings and different dreams by different people with different beliefs and yearnings are causing discomfort in Malaysia. Uneasy nuances of national unity in this multi-cultural mosaic are silently maimed through government policies that ignore “the legitimate interests of other communities,” enumerated in Article 153 Federal Constitution.
“Citizens must realise that a right is not what someone gives you; it’s what no one can take from you.” This is democracy in action, as advocated by Ramsey Clark, to avoid a full-scale war on democracy and all its institutions.
Robert Dahl, writing in 1998, made a very interesting point that democracy comes from values, beliefs and practices that emerge from our culture. This is where the cultural mosaic matters. Politics must be fashioned by culture consciousness in a pluralistic society.
The Madani government fails to convince the masses that it’s working to set things right. The list is loud, long and laborious. PMX needs a super-special panel of advisors for course correction, inspired instruction and decisive direction. Unfortunately, many elected officials lack the required credentials.
Democracy germinated from a polyarchy (rule by many) that had staying power. The shakers and movers decided to go begging for votes, and once pocketed, the roots of polyarchy were viciously and ruthlessly yanked out.
Article 10 Federal Constitution grants Malaysians a supreme mandate as to how a polyarchy works through freedom to associate to prove that rule by many is not a ‘dream-on’ ideal. Concerned citizens have the wherewithal to host and hold intellectual feasts for finding lasting solutions where government is remiss.
Alexis de Tocqueville, visiting America in 1831, observed that “better use has been made of association and this powerful instrument of action has been applied for more varied aims in America than anywhere else in the world”. Freedom of association (a meeting of minds) in Malaysia needs greater impetus.
Malaysians must promote polyarchy by forming associations to direct the Madani mindset in multi-cultural Malaysia. Local culture must dictate and direct politics that inevitably clash with imported values, beliefs and institutions since the ravenous East India Company sunk its roots in the Far East.
The war on democracy will die a natural death when we are totally free to talk about our inalienable freedoms. The Malaysian Bar should give constant headaches to the Madani regime to use its two-thirds parliamentary majority to institute constitutional amendments concerning pardons, that is, if royal pardons are considered undemocratic.
Multiple sharp arrows in the Malaysian Bar’s intellectual quiver are indispensable to win this war of attrition as a war on Malaysian democracy that has been derailed by irresponsible incompetents in elected office.
Denial of citizenship status to ‘stateless children’ born in Malaysian soil (jus soli) assumed a minor role when the KK Mart’s socks issue took pre-eminence and prominence. Article 14 Federal Constitution (Citizenship by operation of law) was given a telling sock to the jaw!
The war on democracy can and will be defeated if the C-I-D (Correction-Instruction-Direction) Method is efficiently employed by true, tried, trusted and tested leaders. The pursuit of and for excellence by the people is another indispensable strategy.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
