The Constitution

bluesyworms

The Malaysian Government is actually a mixture of many systems. It consist of three main branches that is the Legislature [Parliament], Executves [Cabinet] and Judiciary. All derived their powers including the Majlis Raja-aja from the Constitution.So let speak of the Constitution.

Malaysian Constitution

People had always believe that Malaysian Constitution is framed like the constitution in England. This is false. England does not have a WRiTTEN Constitution. England Constitution is all the Magna Carta, treatise, conventions, Human rights law and case law combined. In short it can be anything. Malaysian Constitution on the other hand are Written like America. Again here there is a misconception especially on the Fundamental Liberties. Malaysian Constitution does have similar Fundamental Liberties line out like the Americans. Unfortunately whereas the American's lets say, Freedom Of Speech is just that, absolute Freedom Of Speech, ours on the other hand have sub-Articles that exempt certain things from this rights, hence NOT absolute like in America. Therefor, our Constitution is much more similar like in India than in England or America.

An example is the much debated NEP program. Some argued it goes against article 8;

8[1) All persons are equal before the law and entitled to the equal protection of the law.

(2) Except as expressly authorized by this Constitution, there shall be no discrimination against citizens on the ground only of religion, race, descent or place of birth in any law relating to the acquisition, holding or disposition of property or the establishing or carrying on of any trade, business, profession, vocation or employment.

(3) There shall be no discrimination in favour of any person on the ground that he is a subject of the Ruler of the State.

(4) No public authority shall discriminate against any person on the ground that he is resident or carrying on business in any part of the Federation outside the jurisdiction of the authority.

Unfortunately, people seems to forget Article 8 sub article 5;
8[5) This Article does not invalidate or prohibit -

    (a) any provision regulating personal law;

    (b) any provision or practice restricting office or employment connected with the affairs of any religion, or of an institution managed by a group professing any religion, to persons professing that religion;

    (c) any provision for the protection, wellbeing or advancement of the aboriginal peoples of the Malay Peninsula (including the reservation of land) or the reservation to aborigines of a reasonable proportion of suitable positions in the public service;

    (d) any provision prescribing residence in a State or part of a State as a qualification for election or appointment to any authority having jurisdiction only in that State or part, or for voting in such an election;

    (e) any provision of a Constitution of a State, being or corresponding to a provision in force immediately before Merdeka Day;

    (f) any provision restricting enlistment in the Malay Regiment to Malays.


This scenario with our constitution created quite a problem in Parliament especially seeing that most of our MP's cum lawyers circa 1960's and 1970's are trained acording to the English system. In the English system, Parliament is Supreme. What it means here is that Parliament in England [to law students, this is before the introduction of the human Rights Act 1998 in England] can make any laws it wanted. Because the Constitution is not written. It can hence be re-written in Parliament with a simple majority. In Malaysia however, there are specific method in order to amend the constitution. A simple majority wont do, it must have a 2/3 majority. But because of these contradiction in legal training, especially since before 1960s, there were no law school in Malaysia, hence sometimes laws that are passed in Parliament ultra vires or runs against the Constitution. Some MP's who received legal training from abroad even till today seems not to noticed such problems. In England this may considered a non issue but here it is because we got a written constitution.

Hence until today, when a person is arrested we normally see the police didn't state the ground for arrest. they just arrest. In American movies, we always see the cops reading the persons rights and what is he charged for, but not here in Malaysia. Do you know actually, under our constitution Article 5, sub article 3 it states;

"5(3) Where a person is arrested he shall be informed as soon as may be of the grounds of his arrest and shall be allowed to consult and be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice."

It seems the police by right should have inform us of the ground of arrest. Unfortunately the words 'as soon as may be' has indirectly allowed the police to withheld such information as he likes. I do not agree with this interpretation but it seems the police does!To me it means ASAP but to the police is 'as they like'. And so we have come to a stage whereby most people are arrested without knowing why, and then released just like that.

We should all have a copy of the Malaysian Constitution. Be it whether you are for an Islamic State or not, first we must have it. For those who wants to maintain the secular state, owning one is more for defence. But to Muslims who wants to promulgate the establishment of an Islamic State, then you need one to know how to go about establashing such a state via the Constitution. Whatever it is we have to remember that when Malaysia was formed, be it in 1957 or 1963, all majority parties agreed upon the use of this Constitution. Any changed to the country system must be made via the Constitution. Even madinah had a 'Piagam Madinah'.

I do not believe in any revolution or bloodbath to install an Islamic state or any other system here in Malaysia. Any changes to the system must be via the Constitution.

The Constitution is not sacred. It has been amended many times to suit the changes or some may say the government's fancy. The Constitution is alive and not static. Hence it is important for Malaysians to choose their MP's well. For in the hands of these 200 over MP's, our Fundamental Liberties is at stake. If we carry on 'angguk-angguk geleng-geleng' than it is our own fault too.

All in all, the future of Malaysia is actually in our hands. What we do today counts. Who we vote effect our lives. If we still vote a person just because he/she gave us RM100 and sehelai kain, then forget it. Don't complain about high prices etc. You deserve what you get!

TQ and Happy Foruming.

thank you for sharing.

i'm more than confused on our constitution nowadays as things are happning here doesn;t seem to reflect what the constitution call for(based on my intepretation, of course), as it is up to the Parliament's intepretation. As u said the constitution is not static, who we chose in fact are the one who can inteprete it fairly. Looking at our Parliament with no objection allowed, any laws passed by the parliament are in fact not for the sake of the people but for their people. It is very depressing to see the way things are going about. I sincerely hope more people can read this article and gain some civic conscious in fulfilling our responsibilities as a citizen.

Marsyal Yau

talking about the constitution, i wonder how many of us have ever read or kept a copy of the constitution. it is important for the malaysian citizen to read and know the constitution. it is the basic law of the country. i do not mind fuel prices being increased, but i i am really concerned about our rights. the present govt controls more than 2/3 of the seats in the dewan rakyat, making it impossible for the opposition to block any move to amend the constitution. even if it is being amended, we would even know or notice it as we are not aware of our own constitutiton.

nisa'

i have a copy but honestly i've never read it. i'll only open it as a reference. the reason why, the language .. not that i don't understand english but the way it was written as if every tom, dick and harry understands legal ways of writing - banyak pengulangan (redundancy).

why can't they produce the constitution using simple enlglish or malay? .. so that the layman can understand it.

Marsyal Yau

i agree with you nisa, well, i usually ask my friends who take law to interpret it for me.

nisa'

Originally posted by Marsyal Yau at 20-9-2006 11:31 AM
i agree with you nisa, well, i usually ask my friends who take law to interpret it for me.

good for us who have friends with legal background to interpret it for us .. but what about those who don't have one. macamana dengan orang kampung, orang biasa etc? who's going to interpret it for them?

besides i honestly think that the government "likes" it if the people doesn't know the constitution. we are encouraged to uphold the rukunegara but not the constitution.