JULY 3 — Today, three things are in the headlines: Pakatan Rakyat’s formation of a shadow front bench, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s appeal being denied by the courts, and the Kedah DAP quitting the PAS-led Kedah government. I have listed these events in exactly the order of importance I think they will have in the long run. The notion of a competent and capable opposition is new to Malaysians, as is the idea of the opposition having clear, concrete policies to put forth, and an institutionalised shadow front bench will fundamentally alter how the political debate is waged.
Let’s start with the scandal in Kedah. This might seem like big news, but in reality, the DAP has a negligible presence in Kedah; it has only one representative in the state assembly, and with a small non-Malay population, there is little room for the party to grow (at least for now). The decision to quit the state government was thus taken by only a few DAP leaders, and already the party at the national level is moving to tamp down suggestions of Pakatan’s dissolution.
So far I see no reason to think that this will be the undoing of Pakatan — it is a setback, but a perfectly manageable one. In the long run, we do not remember skirmishes such as this. It is the battles, like the one fought on March 8, which people remember and which fundamentally change our country’s history.
The rejection of Anwar’s appeal to have his case heard by the Sessions Court instead of the High Court is a similar minor blip on the radar. The judgment handed down by the Court of Appeal is not fundamentally unfair, and from what I can tell, seems reasonable: it holds that the Prime Minister, because of the separation of powers, cannot interfere in prosecutions. For this reason the Prime Minister’s promise that the Attorney-General would not be involved in the prosecution was not binding. That sounds fair to me.
And frankly speaking, the judiciary is so tainted and suspect that no matter which court heard the case, its ruling would be in question before the ink even dried on the judge’s signature. The Court of Appeal ruling here does not substantially change the game in any way.
What is truly a game-changer is the formation of a shadow front bench. Yesterday, Pakatan announced that it had assigned MPs from each of its component parties to shadow all of the 25 ministries in the Cabinet. For once, someone in the opposition will be responsible for delving into the particulars of policymaking.
This fundamentally alters the terms of debate. Now each member of this shadow front bench is responsible for understanding the policies and problems of their portfolio, and delivering solutions. If Pakatan forms a government, there are already people informed about the problems of each ministry, and ready to go and start fixing them.
And even before Pakatan forms a government, it will now have to take on more responsibility. It cannot hide anymore — it needs to deliver concrete proposals. The MPs shadowing the Finance Ministry must have an alternative budget. Barisan Nasional will now have to compete with Pakatan in policymaking, and prove its policies, instead of taking cheap shots at the opposition.
Tony Pua, the DAP shadow member for higher education, told the press yesterday that Pakatan avoided forming a shadow Cabinet because such an institution is not currently recognised. While this may be so, the formation of a shadow front bench is in itself a step towards such an institution.
In other parliamentary democracies, a shadow Cabinet or shadow front bench is a fixture of political life. The political debate is immeasurably enhanced by the ability to hold both government and opposition accountable for the specifics of policy. The formation of a shadow front bench in our country is an historic first, and Pakatan must be given its due.
While the tone of political debate will not change overnight, and while Pakatan will undoubtedly have its missteps in handling this new institution, this is another historic landmark which March 8 has brought to us. All parties which represent us in Parliament now have someone we can press for specifics on policy. The competition of ideas continues, and, God willing, we will see a positive, upward spiral as each party struggles to best the other in putting forth the best slate of policies to serve us.
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