Speech by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Kota Melaka, Lim Kit Siang, at the Human Rights Rally organised by the Movement of Freedom, Justice and Democracy held at Transport workers’ Union Hall, Petaling Jaya on Sunday, 8.12.1985 at 10 am
DAP calls for a nation-wide popular movement to cut down the two-third parliamentary majority of Barisan Nasional in next general elections to tame the tyranny and irresponsibility of the majority in Parliament
Two days ago, on the last day of the two months budget parliamentary meeting, I told Barisan Nasional MPs that they have made the Malaysian Parliament into a Parliament of the blind, the deaf, the unseeing, unfeeling and unthinking.
Probably because the general elections is very near, the Barisan Nasional fourth-fifth parliamentary majority became even more tyrannical and practices, and denying even the elementary notions of justice and fair paly, utterly disregarding the public contempt and disrepute they are bringing to the entire institution of Parliament.
In the just-concluded parliamentary meeting, we see the tyranny of a majority which would give priority to privilege motions to suspend Opposition MPs, like Karpal Singh, MP for the Jelutong and Fung Ket Wing, MP for Sandakan but would not give time to debate privilege motions against government Minister and MPs.
Parliament has become a Star Chamber, an engine of oppression, discrimination and injustice, where the notions of the rules of natural justice are alien and foreign, where the machinery of justice swings into action not because of the offence, but because of the identity of the accused.
We see the tyranny of a majority which claims that the decisions of the Speaker or Deputy Speaker could not be challenged by any MP except by way of a substantive motion under Standing Order 43 to review the decision, but when two such substantive motions were introduced in the recent meeting for the first time in parliamentary history, refusing to give time for motions to be debated. As a result, the checks against abuses of power by the Speaker or Deputy Speaker are rendered inoperative and meaningless.
We see the tyranny of a majority which takes pride at such blatant double standards claiming that it represents the democracy of the majority!
We also see the irresponsibility of a majority which is not prepared to devote time to discuss and debate the burning issues of the country, but only to play parliamentary games as to how to deny the Opposition the opportunity to move motions or to raise critical national issues.
We see irresponsibility of a majority which gets angry when problems of racial polarisation, abuses of government power, breach of trust like the $2.5billion Bumiputra Malaysia Finance loans scandal, poverty and exploitation, the educational fears of the people, the spectre of the illegal Indonesian immigrant crimes, are raised in the House.
We see irresponsibility of a majority which is only interested in its own comfort and welfare, but not prepared even to spend an extra few hours a day to give justice to the legislative and other parliamentary business before the House.
The tyranny and irresponsible of the Barisan Nasional majority in Parliament Has become the greatest threat to the healthy growth of democracy in Malaysia, because it has become a Parliament which has lost its bearings and sense of national mission. This is why Parliament, as presently constituted, has failed in its vital role as the supreme political body in the country to protect the fundamental rights of the people as enshrined in the Constitution, the guardian of democracy and repository of the people’s sovereign power.
There must be a nation-wide popular movement to cut down the two-thirds parliamentary majority of Barisan Nasional in the next general elections to tame the tyranny and irresponsibility of the majority in Parliament, to restore meaning to the concept of Parliamentary democracy and end the era of the Malaysia Parliament as a mere rubber stamp of the Executive.
The campaign to give back freedom and democracy to the Malaysian Parliament must be the task of all Malaysian who cherish the ideals and system of parliamentary democracy as the most suitable form of political government for a multi-racial Malaysia.
The Malaysian voters must be made aware of their rights and the immense power in their hands in the next general elections to vote for change, for the good of the nation and future generations; that’s o long as the parliamentary democratic system in however a truncated fashion continues to operate, they have a responsibility to themselves and the nation to demand for the change and improvement, so that justice, freedom, and democracy are more real and meaningful in the daily lives of all Malaysians.
The campaign to reduce the two-third parliamentary majority of the government must be the mission of every Malaysian who wants to see the end of the tyranny of the majority, and its replacement with a more responsive, responsible and accountable government.