"Democracy never lasts long; there never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."
– John Adams, second US President
“The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern,” lamented Lord Acton. He shared John Adams’s view. There is nobody fit, yet, to save democracy from self-annihilation especially when elected incompetents are at the wheel.
It’s been said that “democracy is a slow process of stumbling to the right decision instead of going straight forward to the wrong one.” Trial and error at the expense of the masses is far removed from a pursuit of excellence.
Aristotle surprised many: “Those that choose not to live under any form of government are either beasts or gods.” But primitive societies fared well without organised government until law and (dis)order proved to be organised crime.
Fundamental rights and privileges are delusional catchwords carefully weighed by three classes of people – perpetrators, acceptors, and the resisters – all of whom wage war on defective, debilitating and deceptive democracy with three totally different tactics.
The judiciary in any democracy is in a constant war between interpreting the law (jus dicere) and making and giving the law (jus dare). The common law (stare decisis) is a pusillanimous excuse ‘to find the law’ during its interpretation stage. Article 162(6) Federal Constitution needs stretching its legs while awaiting constitutional amendments.
Is anyone keeping count of the number of times the judiciary sought Parliament’s assistance when a particular law was caught in the quagmire of ambiguity? Malaysians will be hard-pressed to find such occasions because most judges simply cannot resist the faulty and flawed stand-in (the common law).
“We experience a union between government and religion on a daily basis. You cannot help knowing that such habits tend to destroy government and degrade religion,” cautioned Justice Hugo L. Black of the US Supreme Court. Adult supervision becomes indispensable. PMX must conduct weekly dosages of political science courses for MPs.
“No greater war on democracy can be waged than that which government undertakes as a contagious lawbreaker. It breeds contempt for the law. It invites every man to be a law unto himself; it invites anarchy,” observed another US Supreme Court heavyweight, Louis Brandeis.
Different yearnings and different dreams by different people with different beliefs and yearnings are causing discomfort in Malaysia. Uneasy nuances of national unity in this multi-cultural mosaic are silently maimed through government policies that ignore “the legitimate interests of other communities,” enumerated in Article 153 Federal Constitution.
“Citizens must realise that a right is not what someone gives you; https://www.newsarawaktribune.com.my/war-on-democracy/
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