Isn't it a strange expression? His Majesty's Loyal Opposition. It is a reminder of the constitutional system that Malaysia adopted seamlessly and, it would seem, obviously from the British Westminster parliamentary system. It was an exported version, of course.
The original model in the UK is different from Malaysia's version in many ways. Most significant is that Malaysia has a written constitution and, the UK doesn't. In the UK, their Parliament is supreme. In Malaysia, the Federal Constitution is supreme. What this means is that in Malaysia, all decisions of the government and all laws enacted can, and must, be tested against the Federal Constitution. If the decisions and laws are found to be against any principle or provision of the Federal Constitution, the decision and law will be invalidated and struck down.
As with everything in Life, these structures operate properly only when all humans involved in the process share a common belief in the rules. If we get a leader who wants to transcend the rules and, has the power to flout the rules, then, the system has failed.
In the UK, none of the current players ever question the fundamental rules of their Parliamentary system. That is why their system works well.
Just to digress a little, in the United States of America today, we can see how fragile systems of laws can be. The US found themselves with a President who parachuted in as a rank outsider to their representative democratic processes. He isn't a career politician and legislator. He is a businessman.
To digress further, all businessmen have one core purpose in their business goal. It is to take full and maximum advantage of the system, be it legal or economic, to maximise profits. In our current era, a businessman is, at core, a profiteer. He or she will test the rules and boundaries of the laws of the land and push, and pull, cajole, compromise, lubricate and do whatever that needs to be done, to maximise profits. Equally important is to understand that within the organisation he created, a businessman is a dictator or, at the very least, a benevolent despot. Don't be fooled by the conventional wisdom of corporate and business literature when they extol ethics and social responsibility; that's just propanganda. Make no profit and incur losses, you fail and you're out. That is the Damoclean Sword that a businessman lives by. And, the US elected someone with that background and experience. The diplomatic phrase for such a person who now acts as the US President is that he is a transactional leader.
So, in a Third World, polyglot and multi-racial community like Malaysia and, with an imported system of laws, people who are used to feudal values and imperial dictates still cannot understand what a Constitutional, Monarchical, Parliamentary system means. Many Malaysian of voting age still believe that voting is a superficial act. What is important to them is that there is a feudal lord who will provide them with beneficence in exchange for with they must offer their gratitude.
You can imagine how fertile that ground is for abuse of power, whatever the system of laws.
To lesser minds operating within Malaysia's constitutional system as politicians or political operatives, due to lack of credible opposition and, a bullying Juggernaut approach to democracy, these lesser minds chose to ignore the basis of the Federal Constitution. They chose to retain the old habits feudalism.
With such an attitude, any attempts to audit the decisions of government was portrayed as treasonous, seditious and, generally "unlawful". So, he who inhabits the position of power may not be opposed. Any opposition was an act of lawlessness.
Between 1981 and 2003, Dr M led UMNO and, by dint of habit, therefore, assumed the position of Prime Minister of Malaysia. During those 22 years, he behaved as an iconoclast. By his actions, he initiated a mindset within UMNO that laws could be bent and moulded to strengthen powers and reduce opposition. During those 22 years, the Executive branch of government grew manifold times. To be fair, in the modern age, the Executive branch of government has grown throughout the world in response to the increasing complexity of modern societies. But, in Malaysia, such Executive growth had ominous undertones.
Opposition political leaders and civil society leaders were incarcerated. This was the habit of the Malaysian government as it was in many Third World countries.
When he relinquished power in 2003, there was a brief spring under Abdullah Badawi. That spirit was initially retained by Najib. But, the atmosphere quickly descended into a defensive mindset.
That defensive mindset led to a quick stocktake of the powers vested in the Executive branch of government. Very quickly UMNO found a motherload of precedents and powers initiated during the Mahathir era.
3 major examples of Mahathir-era authoritarian behaviour comes to mind. Firstly, the double confrontation with the monarchy. Second, was the sacking of the head of the Judiciary and 5 senior judges. Third, was Operation Lallang that placed numerous Opposition political leaders and civil society leaders under preventive detention.
By this thread, the summary dismissal of Gani Patail as the Attorney-General of Malaysia points to a Mahathir-era Executive Juggernaut approach to dealing with recalcitrants.
This raises a question. Was Mahathir one of the lesser minds aluded to earlier in this blog entry? The answer would be in the affirmative. It was often said, that Dr M, being a non-lawyer (and, therefore, unlike his 3 predescessors, Tunku, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein Onn) did not, or refused to, understand the principles of the Westminster system enshrined in the Federal Constitution.
The Banyan tree metaphor used to describe Lee Kuan Yew's leadership in Singapore could equally apply to Dr M. The point was that nothing grew under the large and dark shadow of a Banyan tree. In Malaysia, the consequence of 22 years of Mahathir led to a large and growing coterie of sycophants and even lesser minds who believed that their positions in government was a feudal right and privilege. It was an entitlement and, a brith right.
This mindset was supported by a voting population that could be moulded like putty. Invoke the Yellow Peril of the dastardly Chinaman who will rob you blind and fear was instilled.
We also cannot and, should not, ignore the fact that during the Najib era, it was Dr M who wrote the narrative of the Yellow Peril through the machinations of Perkasa. Even after Dr M fell out with Najib, the narrative of the Yellow Peril proved to be an effective weapon used by UMNO.
Is Dr M a different person today? I don't think so. I believe most Malaysians know this to be the case. But, horses for causes, Malaysians chose well. The motley crew created by the charisma of Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Kit Siang and Wan Azizah with the spirited support of many, many intelligent, dynamic and youthful leaders combined with Dr M and his strong credibility within the Malay community proved to be a tipping point to cause an incredible outcome; the destruction of the UMNO Juggernaut.
This is a long preamble and I haven't dealt with the original point, the possible routes to reconstruction of the component parties of Barisan Nasional. They, together with PAS, are now His Majesty's Loyal Opposition. Let's deal with it later. Now, Life beckons.
