Good of the People versus Good of the Party

Members of the Parliament must act for the people NOT for their Party

It is not only absurd but also totally immature for our Prime Minister to say that the Barisan’s Nasional’s position is that no BN Member of Parliament should support a Motion coming from the Opposition in Parliament. That is what I understood when I listened to the Radio News at 11.00 pm on Sunday(7/5/2006).

What this means is that a Barisan Members of Parliament do not have the freedom to act as their conscience dictate and for the good or the best interest of the people they represent. They are required to reject all that is coming from an Opposition Member of Parliament, and vote in support of all that is coming from the Barisan Nasional members or the executive even though deep down he/she may feel that the motion coming from the Opposition member has merits and is worth supporting.

If that is what the PM said, for after all media reports have been known to get it wrong, then we do not have BN wakil rakyats but only BN wakil BNs. Is that the reason why most of time most of the BN Member of Parliaments are empty. If this is the state of affairs, then we must all fight for the freedom of the Barisan Member of Parliament to choose and vote as they personally feel is for the best interest of the people of Malaysia.

I sincerely hope that what was reported and what I understood from that report is wrong.

Members of Parliament, be it members of BN or members of the Opposition, must act independently and freely supporting all that is good and rejecting all that is bad for the people of Malaysia irrespective of whose motion it is.

Charles Hector
Petaling Jaya
8th May 2006