All patriots must oppose emergency, Mageran, says Chin Tong

KUALA LUMPUR – All patriotic Malaysians should rally to end the emergency and the reconvening of Parliament as soon as possible, said Liew Chin Tong.

The DAP senator said there should be public consensus to end the state of emergency and to also reject former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s proposal to bring back the National Operations Council (Mageran).

“If politicians cannot exercise credible and effective leadership, we will be ceding ground to authoritarians who are very keen to offer quick fixes to ‘end politics’, which actually means removing democracy and imposing an emergency rule. 

“Therefore, responsible political leaders must find compromise to restore democracy and avoid any form of authoritarian rule,” Liew said in a statement today.

“The days of ‘government knows best’ are over. Our government needs to learn from past mistakes and be less bureaucratic, and yet be bold in accomplishing missions.”

The baseline, he said, is to find an acceptable parliamentary formula to end emergency rule under Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, reject Dr Mahathir’s Mageran proposal, and to not hold a snap election while the Covid-19 situation is still precarious.

“Winston Churchill is attributed as saying, ‘democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others’. 

“Today, Malaysia is being presented with those two ‘other’ choices. The first ‘other’ is Muhyiddin’s less than democratic emergency government which is incompetent, quarrelsome and without majority in Parliament.

“As reported on The Vibes, his administration has declined the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s written request to summon Parliament. Law Minister, Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan even implied that the king must follow the government’s advice as far as the extension of the emergency is concerned.

“This means the Muhyiddin government wants to cling on to power via emergency rule. This anti-democratic idea should be rejected and condemned by all.”

The second “other”, Liew said, was Dr Mahathir’s idea of a new Mageran based on the administrative body that ruled Malaysia by decree for almost two years post-May 13, 1969.

“It was proposed to be an emergency cabinet of sorts, to be filled in mostly with unelected technocrats.”

Liew, who was formerly the deputy defence minister, said the current impasse must be broken, with a new democratic government to replace the current one until the next general election in 2023. 

“This new government must have a majority of at least 120 seats (out of 222 parliamentary seats), and not Muhyiddin’s almost-no-majority government proved to be so unstable that it had to resort to emergency rule to survive.”

To ensure full support from the people, Liew suggested that the next democratic government should have these basic characteristics, principles and values as listed below:

- Democracy and equal partnership should be the cornerstone of the new government as the days of a “big brother” party in a coalition are over. The Muhyiddin government failed miserably on this front in accommodating supposed allies. 

All parties should negotiate their terms and conditions with as much detail as possible before the formation of the government. They must also accept the fact that there is only that much a government can do in the remaining two years before the next general election. Policy agendas which do not receive general consensus from most parties will have to wait for the next term.

- “Presidential” prime ministers should no longer be in practice. The new prime minister should be the chairman of the board to keep the coalition together and not ride roughshod over coalition partners. He or she should govern with a core group of senior ministers, made up of top leaders of coalition partners, to make collective decisions on major issues before going to the cabinet and the Parliament.

- A problem-solving cabinet that must work as a team to solve collective problems, and not to allow for turf wars and ego trips of individual ministers or ministries. The core cabinet of top party leaders who are also senior ministers must collectively impose discipline to ensure the cohesiveness of the cabinet.

- The Parliament as the avenue to build national consensus and allow for collaboration. The opposition should be given equal constituency allocations provided for government MPs. Government backbenchers and opposition MPs must be given ample opportunities to build collaborative relationships as well as a working relationship with ministries through effective parliamentary select committees. Instead of appointing MPs as GLC chairpersons, they should chair parliamentary committees with additional allowances and staffing equivalent to that of a deputy minister.

- Upon formation of this new government, legislation can be passed similar to UK’s fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 with the aim of having a fixed date of election when Parliament expires. According to the federal constitution, this term should end on 16 July, 2023. A fixed time frame will give everyone a clear frame of mind about what could be achieved and what can not within the next two years.

Once the structure of democratic governance is agreed upon and put into action, Liew opined that Malaysia would be rescued from a protracted political crisis and impasse, as well as the threat of authoritarian emergency rules.

Liew added that the theme for this new government should be to heal the nation from the Covid-19 pandemic and its related economic woes as part of a set agenda.

“First, follow the science and stop the double standards. We need a whole-of-government approach to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, and the government must be truthful to the people. Instead of merely imposing harsh penalties while allowing for double standards, the government must treat the people fairly in terms of SOPs (standard operating procedures).”

The concept of “Bangsa Malaysia”, Liew said, requires the new government to get the nation united by our journey into a shared future destiny and by our rejection of divisive racial ideas.

“Our ethnic, language and religious differences should be celebrated as national treasures. We are not our own enemies.”

This new government, he said, must practice the concept of an economy for all. 

“The government needs to step in and step up when private businesses are failing in the current crisis economy while workers are losing their jobs. 

“The government should be prepared to borrow more to deal with this Covid-19 health crisis – it needs to strengthen the healthcare system and invest into the future such as increasing infrastructure investments with green specifications.

“This could provide a boost to employment, productivity and economic activity.”

Additionally, Liew suggested that the government should also shore up the nation’s defence and security sectors and ensure that the country is free of kleptocrats and corruption.

“The new government must eliminate corruption in all its spending. It is a tall order, but integrity is the key in building trust among the people and towards the government.

“Although this government may be limited by time and political compromises, it should still aim to be transformative. It must have the vigour to build back better. Only we Malaysians can rebuild our nation together.” – The Vibes, June 15, 2021