In trying to save face, Ibrahim Ali said he had been misunderstood and what he meant was that a practising lawyer elected as a Member of Parliament or state assemblyman should stop practising during his tenure and be "a full-fledged politician". He said lawyers elected to Parliament or State Assemblies could not attend sittings if they were in court while some cases may have to be postponed if lawyers were in Parliament or State Assemblies.
Ibrahim Ali is the most famous "political frog" in Malaysia, and raises the question as to what is the use of a full-fledged politician if he is also a full-fledged "political frog". But Ibrahim Ali also appears to be a "one-eyed" political frog who cannot see that Malaysia has the highest truancy rate of Ministers absent from Parliament.
It is the rule rather than the exception to see the whole Ministerial
bloc in the Malaysian Parliament totally empty, without a single
Minister present - which must be a rare sight in Commonwealth Parliaments.
There are Ministers who do not turn up in Parliament at all, whether to
answer questions relating to their Ministry or to give an accountability
about the performance of their Ministries.
In the last Parliamentary meeting in July for instance, the Prime Minister,
Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad never attended a single sitting.
So far, Malaysian Ministers can get away with such parliamentary irresponsibility because the Barisan Nasional is invariably re-elected into office with a two-third parliamentary majority - which has bred in the Barisan Ministers and MPs a political arrogance which is completely antithetical to the democratic culture and spirit of accountability, responsibility and transparency.
This is an important reason why in the next election the Barisan Nasional political hegemony as a result of unbroken two-thirds parliamentary majority should be broken to introduce greater humility, humanity, accountability and justice into the system of governance in Malaysia.
(3/10/99)