Challenge the Speaker… and Constitution, by default


Gobind's suit against the Speaker is very interesting because, win or lose, he will put the Federal Constitution to test. The Constitution is like a double-edged sword. Mess it around and it cuts both ways.

By Jeff Ooi

Gobind Singh Deo is the MP for Puchong, the constituency where I used to stay and have a house in.

Yesterday, I took time off to accompany him to the Kuala Lumpur High Court, where he filed a suit against the Dewan Rakyat Speaker and three others over his 12-month suspension as MP. He is seeking a declaration that the suspension is null and void, and unconstitutional.

Gobind_090424.JPG
Image downloaded from Sinchew Daily, April 24, 2008 Page A3.

If I remember correctly, this is the first time an MP has filed a suit against the Speaker, and to challenge a decision made by the Chair during Parliament proceedings in Malaysia.

Gobind's suit against the Speaker is very interesting because, win or lose, he will put the Federal Constitution to test. The Constitution is like a double-edged sword. Mess it around and it cuts both ways.

The difference is, while Gobind is an individual vested with his Constitutional rights — just like you and me — but the government of the day will get irreversibly damaged whether it loses or wins in this case. Don't forget, the federal government has a larger stake to risk in Perak, and the Constitution being the sacrificial lamb for partisan politics is being barbecue-ed, slowly moving from medium rare to well-done. Malaysia will get charbroiled in the end.

It cuts both ways

Let me help you with some contexts to understand the significance of Gobind's suit.

Recently, the Federal Court — the apex court in Malaysia — created a precedent that had deconstructed the convention of Separation of Powers in several decisions taken pertaining to the current constitutional crisis in Perak. The Judiciary is now seen to be interfering into and lording over the Legislative, while the favoured party appeared to be the Executive, the federal government of the day.

In essence, the Federal Court decisions demonstrated that it has over-ruled the decisions of a state assembly and its Speaker, which by extension corresponds to decisions made in the Dewan Rakyat and by its Speaker.

Gobind, on the other hand, is testing if the Constitution does not carry double standards and seek the Courts to similarly over-rule the decision of the Dewan Rakyat and its Speaker that he claimed had done him injustice — suspended from the Dewan Rakyat and stripped of his status, privileges and perks as an MP for one year.

The net effect of whichever the verdict will be, however, will demonstrate whether the Separation of Powers had been pilfered with, and parliamentary democracy had died in Malaysia.

Read more at: http://www.jeffooi.com/2009/04/challenging_speaker_and_consti.php



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