Minister for “First-World” Parliament - not Minister for Parliament toilets and canteen

The “Save Parliament” Roundtable of MPs and the civil society held in Parliament House this morning was neither persuaded nor convinced by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz that the proposal for a Department, today altered to Office for Parliament, was innocuous or pose no threat to the doctrine of separation of powers in general and parliamentary independence and autonomy in particular.

What MPs and Malaysians want is that Nazri should be Minister for a “First-World” Parliament and not a Minister for Parliament toilets and canteen.

Nazri is to be commended for participating in the “Save Parliament” Roundtable when not a single Barisan Nasional MP had turned up to join Opposition MPs and civil society representatives to discuss the far-reaching implications of the Cabinet decision to establish a Department or Office of Parliament to erode and usurp the existing powers of the Parliament administration.

In fact, I commended Nazri in my opening remarks at the Roundtable, acknowledging that since he was appointed Minister in charge of parliamentary affairs, he had helped bring about positive changes in Parliament, although we disagreed strongly on many important national policy issues both inside and outside Parliament.

The positive changes, which I had described as mere “baby-steps” when compared to what should have been achieved if we are serious in wanting the Malaysian Parliament join the ranks of the First-World Parliament, include:

(i) establishment of two select committees and the third one – on National Integrity – in the pipeline;

(ii) somebody always in the House at hand on behalf of Government - or Minister on permanent duty - to immediately deal with “breaking” parliamentary matters which was not the case in the past;

(iii) greater consultation with the Opposition on daily parliamentary affairs, although this consultative approach and spirit should be extended to the larger decision-making process; and

(iv) more sympathetic about upgrading parliamentary performance and facilities like having researchers as proper support services to MPs.

I expressed alarm, however, at the Cabinet decision to establish a Department or Office of Parliament because of its threat to the doctrine of separation of powers which is a cornerstone to the Malaysian system of parliamentary democracy and governance.

Dr. Rais Yatim had written a book, entitled “Freedom under Executive Power in Malaysia” to record the judicial crisis which started in 1988 when a systematic and protracted assault was mounted on the judiciary by the then Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad to undermine and subvert the doctrine of separation of powers and the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary. The system of justice has not yet fully recovered from such a mortal blow, sparking a crisis of the doctrine of separation of powers.

We do not want a situation where another book has to be written on the second grave and grievous assault on the doctrine on the separation of powers pertaining to Parliament. This will be a major blot of the Pak Lah premiership, especially as Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had chosen Parliament to deliver his official maiden speech as the fifth Prime Minister on 3rd November 2003, where he pledged to uphold the doctrine of the separation of powers among the Executive, Parliament and the Judiciary.

The latest threat to the doctrine of separation of powers pertaining to Parliament and parliamentary independence and autonomy must be seen in the context of the relentless erosion and diminution of parliamentary powers and functions by the Executive, not only in the decades before Pak Lah’s accession as PM but even during his current two-year premiership.

At the end of the Roundtable which lasted some 2 hours and 10 minutes, the Roundtable participants from DAP, PAS and Parti Keadilan MPs and representatives from NGOs like MTUC, Tenaganita, HAKAM, CCC, SUARAM and Police Watch reached a three-point consensus, viz:

#That Nazri’s explanations were not convincing that the establishment of a Department or Office of Parliament does not constitute a great peril of Parliament losing whatever little that is left of parliamentary independence and autonomy and a serious subversion of the doctrine of the separation of powers pertaining to Parliament.

#Urging Nazri to halt all implementation of the Cabinet decision to establish a Department or Office of Parliament until MPs and the civil society could approve and support the proposal; and

#Formation of a steering committee comprising MPs and NGOs present at the Roundtable to organize a national conference on Sunday, November 13, 2005 to review the first two years of the Pak Lah administration with regard to making the Malaysian Parliament a First-World Parliament, focusing in particular on much-needed and long-overdue parliamentary reform and modernization.