The Opposition’s political faux pas

0

ONE of the best attributes or gifts of a democratic system of government is the existence and role played by opposition parties in Parliament. They represent the people to voice out their complaints, grouses or issues that they feel would adversely affect their lives, any man in the street, or the future of their children. In other words, the opposition – like the government – is also responsible in upholding the best interest of the people at least in their perspective.

As a whole, the opposition’s role is to check the excesses of the ruling party by whatever way, including voicing their complaints in the legislature. However that role must be executed with high sense of responsibility, utmost wisdom and should be performed with the highest decorum and integrity.

Many would like to see the role of the opposition as representing an alternative government and providing alternative solution or policies to what the government has done wrong. In certain countries, the oppositions come up with shadow cabinets to take or challenge the government at any front or issue they feel that need to be voiced out. They even come out with their own budget to match the one produce by the ruling party. In this way the opposition can reflect that they can come up with alternative approach to the budget.

Sad to say that, the state opposition managed to come up with its alternative budget only once – in 2011 (for the 2012 Alternative Budget). The subsequent alternative budget by the opposition never saw light of the day in the succeeding years until the last budget session few weeks ago.

How can the opposition put up a claim of being a viable alternative to the atate government if it couldn’t even produce its own budget?

So far the state opposition has also failed to line up its shadow cabinet for its members to take on the government on specific issues more efficiently. Having one would also make it easy for the public to make comparison which cabinet is a better choice.

There is a big doubt whether the opposition fit the bill for its slogan ‘Ubah’, when it fails to change its own image worthy of support. Most of the times, the opposition can only proves that its job is simply to oppose and the only way to do it is by playing to the gallery.

Despite my short years of being a state legislator, this being my first term, I find the opposition in the Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) to be glaringly lacking in meeting the norm of a credible opposition. What I observe is that certain members become popular among the voters by kicking the dust on trivial or even racial issues, and then get elected!

Many opposition members are ill-prepared and lack the quality to be matured political figures and some just standing up and wanting to be heard by shouting and overly critical of issues that doesn’t need such posturing. Yes, they just shouted in order to be heard in a naive attempt to show that they are the opposition.

Take the case where the Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem in the previous DUN sitting, proposed RM500 million extra allocations for rural transformation programme, which would provide more expenditure for rural development. Such caring and forward-looking gesture from the government should receive accolade and support from both sides of the political divide in the DUN.

But what do we get? The entire opposition members impetuously opposed the idea where in the first place, they claimed to also work for the betterment of the rural community. An effective opposition would jump on the opportunity and request for more allocations for rural development in order to catch up with the established development centres.

At the federal level, political faux pas of the opposition goes beyond this. No one can forget the Sept 16, 2008 imbroglio in which the then-opposition leader claimed to have enough Barisan Nasional MPs to go his side to take over the government. When the date came, all Malaysians saw his plot and found it out to be a fraud. He did not have the number and what he did was nothing more than gambling the nation’s future, tarnished its image and credibility, and put in tatter the people’s hope of seeing the opposition as a viable alternative to the present government.

An opposition member created uproar in Parliament recently when he insisted on conducting his debate in English, claiming it as the right of MPs from Sarawak and Sabah. Being a seasoned third-term MP and knowing that English terms could only be used with permission in Dewan Rakyat, his act thus defied the Standing Order.

I can only think that his act is just to ride on the bandwagon set by the chief minister, who touched the hearts of many Sarawakians when he announced that English be made the second official language and that English could be used in official correspondence in the state.

Similarly with the Batu Kawah land issue, which was raised in the DUN in May 2015, Adenan responded by asking the opposition to find a purchaser who was prepared to pay RM550 million for the said land within 30 days. Many days after the deadline, the opposition claimed that it had found an unidentified and mysterious purchaser who was willing to pay RM620 million ‘worth’ (including cash payment of RM490 million) for the land.

However, until today the unidentified and mysterious purchaser remains as a big MYSTERY!

The opposition has never concealed its fear for Umno coming to Sarawak and wanted the peninsula-based party to be banned from spreading its wing in the state. Adenan, in the State Assembly told the House that he was able to convince the Umno leadership not to nurture any dream of setting foot here, not during his lifetime. The opposition was quick to capitalise on the issue saying that it was not a foolproof assurance and Umno would come when Adenan is no more around.

In a quick response, the chief minister then proposed that a legislation be passed in the DUN to bar Umno from coming to Sarawak, but this should include any peninsula-based parties – DAP, PAS and PKR in that basket. There was a deafening silence from the other side of the floor.

The chief minister, in capping the issue, aptly described it as ‘a trap that trapped the trapper’.

There are many gaffes and bluffs created by the opposition in their so-called pursuit in fighting for the interest of the people. This column is too limited to make all the exposés.

It is my opinion as everyone else that we need strong opposition in our politics – and a strong one at that. Unfortunately, my diagnosis is that we have yet to come across a political pact that merit to be called ‘strong and credible’ opposition.

Comments can reach the writer via [email protected].