Parliamentary Democracy in Malaysia

GENERAL ELECTION The most important issue here is the action of a citizen who fulfills the

conditions for voting or choosing a candidate or representative, who in his opinion is able and capable of representing the community in an electoral constituency, that is a House Representative and a State Legislative Assembly area The process of voting which is called election finally determines which candidate or party wins or forms the government

 The entire general election process involves the business of nominating the candidate, protesting, voting, ballot counting and announcing the results Balloting is carried out secretly and independently that is nobody will know who is chosen and by whom during balloting and nobody can force a voter to choose certain candidates

 In this context, the general election characterizes the foundation of democracy Significance of the General Election Elections give the citizens the right to pick their own government in line with the philosophy of democracy, from the people to the people and for the people The party that wins the election at the

Parliamentary level with a majority , will form the central government, while those who win with a majority at the State Legislative Assembly level will form the state government, that means a government formed by the people through an election is a government of the people, and of course, the government places the peoples interests above that of the party , and the other

people who lead the party after winning the election Elections in the practice of democracy, constitute a social contract between the people and the candidate or party (that succeeds to form the government); and they should fulfill the partys promises and manifesto proclaimed in the election campaign

 The election is very important because it is a legal means for the people to form and change a government to look after their interests The results of an election are determined by the people with a simple majority and the loser will have to accept the results readily and respect it

 It must be underlined that the election is an important method for sustaining and designing democracy Types of Election First, the general election for the whole country, held once every five years or after Parliament or the State Legislative Assembly is dissolved The next is the by-elections which do not

involve the dissolution of any of the assembly nor do they follow a fixed schedule Besides the two categories above, there was once another type of election, that is, the general election for the Local Government created by the 1960 Local Government Elections Act to elect Executive members for the Town or District Council

When are General Elections held?

In principle a general election is held once every five years However, a general election can also be held before the term is up In both situations, prior to carrying out the election, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong must dissolve Parliament on the advice or at the request of the Prime Minister at the federal level

 At the state level, a general election is held after the State Legislative Assembly is dissolved by the Ruler/Sultan or Yang Dipertua Negeri at the request of the Menteri Besar or Chief Minister As soon as Parliament is dissolved, the elections must be held within 60 days in West Malaysia and within 90 days in Sabah and Sarawak

 The time specified is reasonable for the Election Commission to prepare the election arrangements and the contesting parties to get ready, hold campaigns and construct definite strategies following the regulations or laws that have been fixed from time to time The by-election is held at the death of a representative or member or if there is a vacant seat because of absenteeism from

meetings for a fixed period of time By-election is also held when the general election result of a constituency is considered not legal by a court after a charge has been officially made following rules and legislation By-election involving a particular electoral constituency whether Parliamentary or State may be required if there are technical problems found in the process of the election

The Voters and his Conditions

The voter is an individual who has the right and qualifies to ballot in an election regardless of religion, race, ethnic group, colour, height, body size or gender According to the Constitution, Article 119(1), every Malaysian can vote for the House of Representatives or the State Legislative Council election:

1. On reaching the age of 21 on the qualifying date; and 2. Resides in an election division on the (qualifying) date or if not residing is considered as absentee voter Even if the above conditions are complete, the person cannot vote if his name does not appear on the electoral list, that is a document in which are listed the names of

voters in an electoral constituency According to General Election Rules 14 and 15, 1959, those whose names are not recorded in the list are not allowed to vote A person can register or check whether his name is still listed in the constituency register through the Election website at any time or can be done at the village level, that is,

electoral roll checking such as town halls, village head complexes, public halls, rukun tetangga centers, official government buildings or at other strategic places easily accessed by the local community The qualifying date refers to the 31st August each year, that is, the date for checking and preparing the voters register each year by the Election Commission through the Election

Ordinance (Ordinance No. 33, 1958) This means every citizen who becomes 21 on 31st August and resides in the electoral constituency and is registered, can vote for the constituency of the State Legislative Assembly and House of Representatives The word not residing means not living or present in an electoral constituency during

the time of the election A voter not residing in an electoral constituency is described as an absentee voter and can still vote According to the law there are three categories of absentee voters: 1. A Malaysian citizen who is working in the Federation Armed Forces or Commonwealth countries, who, with his wife lives in a

residence provided by the Armed Forces authority on the date of application to register as a voter in the electoral district (the district he registered) 2. A Malaysian citizen living overseas with his wife but working with the Federal or State Government or local or semi-government authority, who has applied to register himself as a voter in the electoral constituency; and

3. A Malaysian citizen (and wife) who is studying abroad, who applies to register himself as a voter in the electoral constituency This means, every citizen who fulfills the conditions but is abroad has the right to choose and determine the prospective leaders of his electoral constituency The process of forming the government through the act of voting by legal voters, is

what is meant by the people having the power to rule Even if a citizen satisfies the conditions above, there are two matters that can bar him from voting, namely: 1. On the qualifying date he is held as a person who does not have a fully sound mind or is carrying out a jail sentence

2. A person is found guilty and is imposed the death sentence or jail exceeding 12 months in any Commonwealth countries In Malaysia a person can join any political party at the age of 18, but the minimum age for voting is still 21 because a person of 21 is regarded as an adult and can think in a mature manner as any mistake in choosing their constituency representative can influence

the socio-political life of the voters as a whole Election Commission To protect the function of the election as a mechanism that pays homage to and sustains democracy it must be administered with transparency to convince people that the practice of democracy is fully and properly carried out

 According to Article 113 of the Constitution, the body that is responsible for managing and administering the elections is the Election Commission whose responsibilities can be divided into three main areas: 1. Draw up the borders of the electoral constituencies(every 10 -12 years) 2. Prepare and check the voters list for the elections(updating the votersregister); and

3. Manage the election process for the Parliamentary and State Legislative Assembly constituencies The members of the Election Commission are appointed by the YDP Agong after consultations with the Council of Rulers (Article 114) which consists of a chairperson, a deputy and three other members The office bearers of the Commission receive

allowances according to the laws approved by Parliament and Parliament can make changes to the terms for the post and its membership The members are allowed to hold the post until the age of 65 and can resign from the post by sending a letter to the YDP Agong However. They cannot be simply dismissed, but have to go through special procedures as in the case of the dismissal of a judge of the

Federal Court However, the YDP Agong can dismiss a member if he is bankrupt or he is holding a salaried post or becomes a member of Parliament or State Legislative Assembly The manner of appointing the members of the Commission clearly shows that the administrators of the elections is free from all political influence

Vote and Balloting

Perfection of the democratic practice is enhanced because the process of conducting the election itself has to follow certain procedures For the general election, after the YDP Agong dissolves Parliament at the request of the Prime Minister, the Election Commission (EC) will issue the order to the Managing Officer to organize the balloting process (election)

 The responsibility of the Managing Officer is to issue a statement, through the Government Gazette or newspaper, on the date of nomination of candidates for the said election, the place and the time of election (for individuals who wish to contest in the election) for every electoral constituency The EC also determines the date and place of balloting

 The process of nominating the candidate is very technical and the nomination can be done in not less than ten days after its announcement has been circulated According to the rules of an election, any candidate who wishes to contest must obtain a nominator, a seconder and at least four other people, whose names are recorded in the nomination paper and they must be

registered voters in that constituency Every candidate has to put down a deposit, the sum of which varies, depending on whether it is Parliamentary or State Legislative Assembly constituency The balloting day cn be after three weeks from the date of nomination but cannot exceed eight weeks On balloting day, all voters who qualify to vote

can carry out their responsibility by casting their votes in balloting places provided The time for balloting is determined by the election management For a general election, every voter is given two sheets of ballot papers of different colours; one for the State Legislative Assembly constituency and the other for the Parliamentary constituency

 On each ballot paper are symbols representing the contesting candidates and the space for the voter to make his choice (by marking X) The ballot papers are put into separate ballot boxes for the Parliamentary and the State constituencies respectively The voting formula is, One vote for one candidate

 For those categorized as non-residing voters, voting is done through the post by voting earlier This includes those who are overseas, members of the security forces serving in the interior and public office-bearers involved in handling the election matters in areas outside their balloting district

 Before the balloting day arrives, the contesting parties are allowed to carry out election campaigns through political talks The freedom of speech and assembly during the campaigns also show the basic freedom as embodied in Article 10 of the Constitution are protected However, to ensure public security all political talks whether by the party that hold the reins

of government or the opposition, it is necessary to get police approval or permit A citizen (voter) who loves democracy will not give up the opportunity to fulfill his responsibility in determining the future leaders Until today an election still constitutes the legal method or way for the people to voice their wishes in designing the government

State Legislative and Parliamentary Members

Every Malaysian citizen ages 21 and above qualifies to become a State Legislative Assembly or member of Parliament except if the person has lost his right to become a member according to the Constitution or any law mentioned in Section 6 Schedule 8 for State Legislative Assemblyman members and Article 48 of the Constitution for Parliamentary members

 The reasons may be: 1. If the person is found or is pronounced to be not of sound mind; or 2. If the person is a bankrupt and has yet to be released; or 3. If the person holds a salaried post; or 4. If the person fails to send his statement of expenses for the Parliamentary or State election in which he was standing as an

election candidate or representative within 33 days after the announcement of the election results; or 5. If the person has been found guilty for a criminal offence by any court in the Federation and has been sentenced to imprisonment for not less than a year or fined not less than two thousand Malaysian ringgit and has not received pardon; or

6. If the person deliberately obtains foreign citizenship or deliberately used foreign citizenship or pledged allegiance to any foreign country; or 7. If the person has been found guilty of an offence related to elections A member of the State Legislative Assembly or Parliament cannot at the same time represent

more than one electoral constituency A peoples representative too, cannot be a member for both the Parliamentary Assemblies (House of Representative and the Senate) or represent more than one electoral district (Article 49 and Section 7 of the Eight Schedule) The total membership of both the State Legislative Assembly and Parliament varies

from state to state and this has to do with the issue of alignment of divisions or electoral constituencies determined by the EC authorities The members from parties that win with a majority the electoral seats at the state level will form the State Government and are among those who will be appointed subsequently as members of the State

Executive Council (Exco) The Ruler/Sultan or Yang Dipertua Negeri of a state will appoint a Menteri Besar or Chief Minister to head the government Meanwhile those from parties that win with a majority at the Parliamentary level will form the Federal Government and some among them will be appointed members of the Cabinet

 The YDP Agong will appoint from among them a Prime Minister who will head the Cabinet As the Federal Constitution provides for the division between the central and state governments the Malaysian styled democratic rule does not prevent a state government from being ruled by a party different from that of the central government This makes the practice of the democratic

system all the more distinctive To protect the integrity of the democratic practice the appointment of a candidate as a member of DUN or peoples representative (member of Parliament) is through a formal ceremony Every one of them must pledged allegiance to Malaysia and the Constitution before he can be addressed as Yang Berhormat

(The Honourable) and takes his seat in the conference hall For the State Legislative Assembly, the oath taking ceremony is witnessed by the Ruler/Sultan or the Yang Dipertua Negeri; for the House of Representatives, it is witnessed by the YDP Agong The oath taking process is a pledge by every Yang Berhormat to work to serve the

interest of the members of society in his constituency, that means he must place public interest above their own This is exactly the principle behind the elections, that is, to choose the individual that is deemed qualified to represent not just the voters but also the entire community in an electoral constituency

Duration as Peoples Representative and Member of the State Legislative Assembly

The duration in office of a representative of the people (member of Parliament) is until the date Parliament is dissolved by the YDP Agong, while for a member of the State Legislative Assembly, it is until the State Legislative Assembly is dissolved by the Sultan/Ruler or the Yang Dipertua Negeri However, a person can lose his designation as Yang Berhormat if he is found guilty in

relation to a number of matters mentioned earlier A member of a house can voluntarily withdraw by writing officially to the Yang Dipertua of the House of Representatives Even though automatically discharged after Parliament is dissolved the person if chosen again in an independent election, can continue to hold the post as long as the

people need his service as their representative But the most important determinant for a person to become a representative of the people is the agreement to his candidature for contest in a district by the party chief This means that even if the person is popular among the voters in the constituency, without the blessing of the leadership, he cannot

contest and must give way to another person, unless he wants to contest under an independent label According to Article 52 of the Constitution, a representative of the people can be stripped off his post if he continuously absents himself from meetings for six months without prior approval from the House concerned

 As such the House can declare the seat for the constituency vacant According to Article 59 [2], the seat of a representative can be declared vacant if he fails to present himself for six months from the date of the House begins to sit after the election; and a by-election will be held This provision is in fact for the purpose of protecting the principle of representative

democracy as the representative after takin his oath to hold the post means he is the only legal representative of the people at the highest level His responsibility is to attend the meetings of the House, to listen and to take part in the debates, to pass the bills or participate in the question and answer session when discussing a policy related to the interest of the people

in his constituency These provisions reinforce further the social contract between the Representative of the people and the people he represents Senate Members Parliament has two houses, the House of Representatives which basically draws up the bills and debate them, while the Senate is

responsible for further debates and scrutiny on the bills that the House of Representatives had passed The members of the Senate, also known as senators, according to Article 45, are selected and appointed by the YDP Agong Members that are picked, represent the states, two in each state are chosen by the State Legislative Assembly according to rules

embodied in Schedule 7 For those who are appointed, their appointment is by the YDP Agong There are forty of them Two senators for the Federal Territory of K. Lumpur and one for the Federal Territory of Labuan are also appointed by the YDP Agong However, the number of senators is never fixed because Parliament has the power to

increase or reduce the number (Constitution, Article 45 [4] Senators who are appointed consist of those who have rendered excellent service in the public service or those who have been successful in their respective professions in commerce, business, industry, agriculture, art or social welfare Senators also can be appointed from those

who represent minority groups or people who can represent the interests of the native tribes and their appointment is considered important in the legislative context The vast experiences in their respective fields can help the legislative body to refine related aspects and this definitely helps the executive body in the administrative matters This wide experience is reinforced with the

condition that a person can be appointed as a senator from the age of thirty and above Duration in Office of a Senator A senator can hold his post for three years, even during the period Parliament is dissolved However, the post cannot be held for more than two terms, that is, not exceeding six years whether continuously or intermittently

 For a person appointed to replace a Senator who has passed away or stopped, the period of the post is the remainder of the term only As a representative of the people, a senator can also resign from the post by writing officially to the Yang Dipertua of the Senate The role of a senator is also important especially in carefully going through the bills before their presentation to the YDP Agong

for his assent as legal laws Hence their involvement in the Senate meetings is also important If a senator is unable to attend the meetings for more than six months he needs to get the prior permission of the Senate, otherwis he can be stripped off his post according to Article 59 [2]

 The vacant position is then filled up within sixty days from the date of the event