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Thursday, October 16, 2014

Parliament: Half-baked to slow-witted

Are we wrong to expect better of our representatives?
COMMENT
MalaysianParliamentOn one side, the learned opposition leader. On the other, a Barisan MP with little to his reputation except his 2013 ascendancy to the hallowed halls of Parliament. On paper, they should be polar opposites. In fact, we expect them to be as different from each other as night from day. Sadly, this is not the case, as seen in Monday’s Parliament session.
Anwar Ibrahim is hailed as the worthiest candidate today for the prime ministership, but last Monday we saw him indulge in some of the worst excesses a politician is capable of when he tried to explain the controversial Kajang Move. He gave a filibuster on history that impressed no one, serving only to exasperate those in attendance and those of us who thought he might reveal something of substance.
Was anybody paying attention to the preamble that, at the end of the day, amounted to a history lesson insinuating that the Sultan of Selangor’s orders were superfluous to PKR’s goal of anointing Wan Azizah as the Menteri Besar of Selangor?
Even worse was his skirting of Noh Omar’s oddly valid question of why Pakatan didn’t simply submit more than one name as requested by the Sultan.
Such a demeanour does not press the case for Anwar’s candidacy for the prime minister’s job. It in fact shows him to be petulant and self-indulgent, unwilling to face the idea that his gambit almost resulted in Pakatan’s loss of another state.
He threw up a smokescreen with his finely tuned oration, stealing valuable time that could be used to discuss the important issues.
“For the record, I have talked about feudalism in the 51st Umno General Assembly where I said Datuk Onn Jaafar had previously said that the independence concept of our country does not mean bringing feudalism back to life,” he said in his speech. The question we’re willing to bet was bouncing around the heads of everyone listening was, “So what?”
This is not to say that the quality of politicians across the aisle is superior. Anwar, if nothing else, is a magnificent orator (when he’s not putting the Parliament to sleep with history sermons) and a charismatic figure.
What should we find across the aisle but Padang Besar MP Zahidi Zainul Abidin, who interrupted Anwar with this question: “What about the RM2.3 million armoured vehicle that was purchased for Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng?”
He asked the question without a hint of irony, despite the original claim being clearly classified as satire by its writer. Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad whacked him soundly around the ears for the audacity to quote a satirical claim.
Checking the facts
But after the laughter has passed, we need to seriously question what kind of person tries to take someone to task, in Parliament no less, without checking his facts beforehand?
Do our politicians simply walk into Parliament unprepared, armed with only what they read on propagandist blogs and Facebook groups founded by their own cybertroopers? What a scary thought. We, the people, entrust our livelihood and the authority to make decisions on our behalf to “Members of Parliament” who won’t even use common sense, much less critical thinking, when they represent us within the highest decision-making body of the country.
Are we wrong to expect better of these “representatives of the people”? Is this the golden standard of democracy for Malaysia?
No, no, a thousand times no.
As the representatives of we, the rakyat, politicians need to step up their game and meet the standards expected of them because the instant they put themselves up on a pedestal for election, they signed an unwritten contract with the people to serve to the best of their abilities, singular or collective. Yes, to act for the people’s best interests.
A seat in Parliament is not a launching pad to self-aggrandizement. The ballots we cast are not keys to wealth and prestige. You are committed to a term of servitude to the vox populi. It is part of this burden of great responsibility for you to show up in Parliament prepared, and not waste the time and the taxes the rakyat pay by filibustering over issues that could be explained in a fraction of the time.
We are a people in a hurry. Fewer than six years remain to the vaunted goal of 2020, and despite assurances that we are on track to achieve that ideal, the reality is that the current generation sees it slipping away day by day.
Malaysian politicians, we need to see a higher standard of service from you. Show us that we are right to believe in a brighter tomorrow, that Malaysia is still that land we grew up in that seemed so full of potential, so full of opportunity. You cannot do this with the antics you’ve been displaying in our Parliament. Yes, ours, not yours.
We have no use for your cheap attention grabs. We need you to actually work together for the betterment of the country. Don’t trap us between the devil and the deep blue sea.

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