KUALA LUMPUR – Putrajaya’s move to allow the prime minister and heads of state governments unfettered access to consolidated funds has been slammed as “undemocratic”, “subjugating Parliament”, and “lacking in checks and balances”.
Political analyst Khoo Kay Peng told The Vibes that spending without legislative approval will set back parliamentary checks and balances even more.
In a tacit comparison, the prime minister is no different from the Myanmar junta in the subjugation of Parliament. Just that ours is non-violent.”
He said Parliament must convene amid the Covid-19 pandemic as there is much work to be done by lawmakers together.
“The emergency must not be extended as it is not justified, and it is putting the Yang di-Pertuan Agong in a precarious situation if he (Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin) continues to endorse the extension of the emergency.”
The youth-led Muda, in a statement, said the decline in democracy in Malaysia is clear, with the prime minister now having absolute power to pass supplementary budgets and use consolidated funds without the legislature’s nod.
The organisation’s pro tem committee vice-president and lawyer Lim Wei Jiet said the new emergency ordinance will also contribute to policies that are not pro-rakyat.
“This is another decision by the Perikatan Nasional government that is non-democratic and insults the sanctity of Parliament, which acts as a check and balance for any executive decision with regard to the country’s finances.”
He said debates and the open exchange of opinions in the House lead to the formulation of sound financial policies.
“For example, criticism by opposition MPs on the RM85.5 million allocation to the then Special Affairs Department caused the finance minister to reduce the sum.
“But now, the prime minister doesn’t need to answer to parliamentarians or his own cabinet.
“Hence, we appeal for the emergency to end, and democracy, as well as good governance, to be restored in Malaysia.”
Senator Yusmadi Yusoff of PKR appealed to the king to intervene in the new ordinance, to protect the people’s interests.
The fact that the Agong on February 24 expressed the view that Parliament may convene during the emergency period shows that he is of the opinion that the interests of the people must be safeguarded through Parliament.
“By right, any subsequent law or ordinance must take cognisance of the decree by the Agong that a Parliament sitting be held.”
Yusmadi, a lawyer by profession and former Balik Pulau MP, said to have an ordinance in the name of an emergency without giving due consideration to the direction by the king is tantamount to unconstitutionality.
“Because the law has to be interpreted in context, and so, what we have here now is an emergency with a safeguarding principle or mechanism by the Agong.
“It is certainly not a blanket emergency that gives absolute freedom to the government of the day. The emergency in Malaysia today still has democratic accountability.” – The Vibes, April 1, 2021
