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Barisan can grill Teoh Beng Hock so hard about RM2,400 worth of alleged corruption that he falls to his death, but it can’t even get to the bottom of the multi-billion ringgit Port Klang Free Zone disaster. Barisan is so drunk with power that it knowingly nominates a man which its very own Umno decided was too corrupt to hold office to represent it in Negri Sembilan. Barisan just does not care about the law. By John Lee, The Malaysian Insider
So, the Perak farce grabbed the headlines again this week, while in my home state, Badrul Hisham Abdullah crossed over to the Barisan Nasional side of the floor. And there is no better way to sum this up: Barisan is a threat to our democratic and peaceful way of life. It is arrogant, drunk on the heady belief that no matter what, it can hold on to power and do whatever it likes — the laws or the people of Malaysia be damned. I know it sounds like hyperbole to suggest Barisan is this nasty. And I don’t mean to say you’re a bad person if you like or support Barisan. I know a fair number of fantastic people in Barisan. But I also know for a fact that Barisan doesn’t give a rat’s ass about our democracy or our rights. The most fundamental right — even more fundamental than the right to vote — is the right to fair and equal treatment under the law. That is why the Magna Carta is such an important document — it is the first codified instance of the rule of law. Nobody, not even the royalty or the Prime Minister, is above the law. Everyone is entitled to be treated as the law prescribes — nothing more, and nothing less. It is fundamentally dictatorial and antithetical to democracy for people to be above the law. If someone were to murder or steal, it does not matter whether he is a prince or a pauper — he is wrong. It undermines everything about a democratic and constitutional state for the government to be above the laws imposed on the people it governs. And yet, that is exactly what happened in Perak. Barisan could have waited for the Pakatan Rakyat speaker to convene the state assembly, pass a motion of no confidence in the government, and get on with business. It wouldn’t be particularly fair to the people of Perak, who voted for a Pakatan government, but at least it would be in accordance with the law. Barisan didn’t give two hoots about the law. It unilaterally decided that the Sultan could dismiss the mentri besar, and used this to impose its authority over the state. The fact is that the Perak state assembly still has not passed a vote of no confidence in the Pakatan state government, leaving the question of who governs the state in limbo. READ MORE HERE: http://themalaysianinsider.com/
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