Tree of Democracy

8^th March 2009 marked the 1^st anniversary of the political tsunami that occurred in our country. In Perak, Pakatan Rakyat celebrated the anniversary by naming a rain tree where the emergency sitting of the state assembly was held as the Tree of Democracy. They also planted five trees nearby and named the trees: Transparency, Justice, Integrity, Trustworthiness and Welfare.

But mind you, that democracy will not be established merely by planting a tree. It takes each and every one of us to play our role. The first thing that we need to do is to know what democracy is. To know democracy in this term does not mean to know only the definition of democracy. It is beyond that. We need to realize and understand what democracy is, its concept and the important of it. However, the key player in establishing democracy in our country is our leaders as the major role resides on their hands. Leaders should show some respect to democracy and give democracy in ample space.

Malaysia who claimed to practice democracy since independence is in fact does not really practice democracy completely. We only practice partial democracy. However, the 12th general election saw democracy has started to flourish. From my point of view, no one loses in the last general election. In fact, the actual winner is the rakyat. Why do I say that? Here is the explanation. Any new ruling planned by the government must be brought to the parliament to be debated. In parliament, it requires 2/3 votes from MPs before the rules can be implemented. Before this, any new ruling brought by the government regardless it is in accordance with rakyat’s wish or not could easily pass this stage as MPs from government could not vote against it. Now, in order for a new ruling to be implemented the government has to obtain support from opposition’s MPs. The opposition can do a cross check and limit the power of the government.

I am happy that democracy has started to flourish in Malaysia. However, I am sad at the same time because our MPs fail to take this opportunity. Look at what is happening in Perak. There is a power struggle. We have forgotten the mandate given by the rakyat. We are too busy with power struggle and thus lost our focus in tackling today’s main issue that is the economic slowdown. So, I am really hoping that all MPs to stop politicking and start doing their respective jobs.

Note:

• Bravo to my friend Nana who has registered herself as a voter.
• I am not an economist. Therefore, I am not going to comment much about the mini budget tabled by Datuk Seri Najib last Tuesday. But, I applauded 2 incentives in the budget that are the RM5K discount in the car exchange program and the scholarship for the retrench workers to further their post graduate study.