Know your constitutional rights as citizens

MOST Malaysians are unaware of their rights as citizens of this country. They simply accept as gospel all the pronouncements concerning their rights and restrictions by the authorities.

Posted on 9 October 2017 - 07:23pm
Last updated on 9 October 2017 - 07:40pm

Mohamed Ghouse Nasuruddin and Azeem Fazwan Ahmad Farouk

Citizens' rights are enshrined in the Constitution as well as in the Native Customary Laws and in the Syariah for Muslims. They are regulatory principles based on the precepts of justice, as mechanisms to govern individual and communal behaviour and interactions.

The Legislature, one of the three branches of governance, besides the Executive and Judiciary, is the august body made up of people's representatives that formulates and amends the Constitution from time to time to suit the prevailing circumstances. Amendments are made by way of a two-thirds majority, in the interest of justice and not based on the tyranny of the majority to effect sectarian ­advantage.

Various instruments of governance are emplaced to ensure that citizens' rights are not violated. The Judiciary is the supreme institution that oversees such issues in addition to criminal and civil matters.

Judicial review is an integral part of ensuring respect and observance of citizens' rights. A judiciary that acts as a check and balance of executive powers can ensure that the citizens' constitutional rights are not violated. A citizen can initiate due process to reclaim his or her rights, but the courts are the ultimate arbiter. Thus, courts that are impervious to extraneous influence are a prerequisite for the rightful observance of citizens' rights.

But this is not always the case for political expediency may result in the manipulation of the various instruments of governance to deny the citizens' lawful rights. Therefore, the citizens may not have recourse to these institutions that are supposed to protect their rights because these instruments of governance by virtue of their establishment are subservient to the dictates of the Executive.

Citizens are easily intimidated because of their ignorance and tend to accept the directives from the authorities as gospel and sacrosanct.

A case in point is the Sabah and Sarawak immigration control, which is part of the 20-point agreement in joining Malaysia. But this immigration control has been used to deny access to Malaysians from West Malaysia on innocent passage to discharge their constitutionally sanctioned political activities on the spurious grounds of posing as security risks.

In fact, the intention of immigration control is regulatory and not envisaged as punitive restriction. With proper documents, one should be able to move freely in these two states without unwarranted restrictions. The irony is that Malaysians from Sabah and Sarawak have unrestricted access to all the facilities and are free to work and stay in Peninsular Malaysia.

Then there is the right of individuals to undertake legally sanctioned business enterprises and are free to operate in a manner they see fit. As long as they comply with the licensing requirements they should not be coerced to submit to extraneous untoward non-business demands.

On the same vein, a citizen's right of domicile is irrevocable except on grounds of criminal or security related activities. In such cases he would be incarcerated or exiled to other parts of the country as the court deems fit.

But for the law-abiding citizen, he or she cannot be evicted from the state in which he is domiciled by anyone, even by those from the highest echelons of society. It is his/her constitutional right to live in the state of his/her choice.

Freedom of expression and the right to dissent have long been contentious issues between citizens and officialdom. The right to express one's ideas or thoughts in a written, verbal or visual format is circumscribed by various legislative measures such as the Seditious Act, the Official Secret Acts and the Police Act in Conformity with prevailing political sentiments.

An informed citizenry is crucial to ensure that its rights be given credence and due respect so that it could act as a check and balance in ensuring good governance and the protection of its constitutional rights.

Professor Emeritus Datuk Dr Mohamed Ghouse Nasuruddin is an honorary fellow at the Centre for Policy Research and International Studies (CenPRIS) and Associate Professor Dr Azeem Fazwan Ahmad Farouk is director at the Centre for Policy Research and International Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang

http://www.thesundaily.my/news/2017/10/09/know-your-constitutional-rights-citizens

Speak up in defence of everyone’s rights

I REFER to the news reports on the explanation by the police that the reason for DBKL banning the beer festival was because of a security risk and that extremists were planning a terror attack on the event.

Letters

26 September 2017

Congratulations to the police for apprehending the alleged attackers. It’s a great comfort to know that our police intelligence is efficient in keeping the public safe from terror attacks.

Terror threats and attacks have also become a major problem in many cities in Europe and America where mentally deranged individuals, social drop-outs, radical groups and fanatics take their personal frustration and political and religious ideology to the streets, hoping to catch the prime time TV news and become instant celebrities.

Some of the attacks are deadly and include fundamentalists expressing their hatred for Western values and lifestyles through bombing of civilian targets on the promise by their religious leaders that those who sacrifice their lives would be rewarded with eternal pleasure in heaven.

Whatever the threats, Western authorities do not respond with panic measures to ban public gatherings, football games, music and beer festivals and entertainment centres as doing so would only lend credence to the terror groups and religious fundamentalists. Instead, Western leaders reiterate the need for the civilian population to face the threats with vigilance and go on with their daily life as usual.

These countries are determined to stand by their values of freedom and show to the hate groups that the Western democratic way of life will not change whatever the threats. These countries are confident that the terror organisations will not win because their people are united in defending the values they hold dear.

The DBKL ban on the beer festival is a major disappointment and a setback for human rights. It is worrying to see that DBKL is giving support to the anti-social elements who want to dictate our lifestyles according to their religious beliefs. Malaysians are becoming worried about the pattern in DBKL to bend to pressure groups and cancel permits for music and cultural festivals at the last minute, causing financial loss to the organisers. Tourism, food and entertainment businesses will surely be concerned over whether there is a future for them in the economy.

We are seeing political and religious groups making demands for Muslims to be treated separately from other Malaysians at public laundry shops and toilets, supermarkets and cinemas, and for liquor sales to be outlawed in Muslim-majority residential areas. The DBKL ban on the beer festival has encouraged these groups to be more brazen in their demand.

We can learn about leadership in facing up to extremist threats from the Muslim mayor of London. Each time there is a tragedy, the mayor would respond bravely, standing in front of world TV to describe the attack on London as an attack not only on Britain but also on humanity. He would call for cooperation with the police so that justice would be done quickly to uphold the rule of law. And he would ask all Londoners to stand united and show to the world that the terrorists will be defeated.

In Malaysia, our leaders 47 years ago introduced the Rukunegara containing the five principles for uniting Malaysians with shared values of respect and tolerance for our diversity and multiculturalism. Our Prime Minister in his recent visit to the White House to meet the president of the United States mentioned to the world that Malaysia believes in tolerance and moderation. In his recent Maal Hijrah message, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak again reminded Malaysians about moderation in all things that we do. It is timely that our politicians and administrators take heed of his plea for moderation.

As Malaysia is a democracy, all groups have a right to make suggestions for their community, but any suggestion that will lead Malaysians to lead separate lives should be handled with care as each administrative action to ban an event on grounds of race and religion can be divisive.

As the beer festival is not the first such ban, there is a perception that Malaysia is becoming increasingly intolerant of other cultures. It will also create the impression that while the top leaders speak about tolerance and moderation, the little napoleons are free to do as they wish to pander to the pressure groups. The impression is that mob rule is becoming the norm at the lower levels of government.

Our KL mayor should stand up to say that the cultural and entertainment life of the city cannot be held to ransom by racial and religious bigotry. The economic life of the city will collapse if there is uncertainty over whether permits will be approved and then cancelled at will the moment an event becomes a sensitive issue.

The Government is spending billions to make KL one of the most liveable cities in the world. It is becoming more beautiful with all the trendy architecture, modern infrastructure and nice landscaping that make the city lively day and night. All this beauty will go to waste if the city administrators give way to the few religious ideologists who want to impose their conservative values on our lifestyles. KL must not be allowed to become a hermit city with no life.

Malaysian Muslims need to be vocal to defend the rights of all races and show that they want to continue to coexist in a multicultural society with the diverse lifestyles that make a city great.

TAN SRI MOHD SHERIFF MOHD KASSIM

Kuala Lumpur

Read more at http://www.thestar.com.my/opinion/letters/2017/09/26/speak-up-in-defence-of-everyones-rights

Umno's enemy are those who question Malays' special rights: Salleh Said

Umno's enemy are those who question the special rights provided in the country's social contract to the Malays said Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak (pix).

Posted on 29 November 2016 - 03:21pm
Last updated on 29 November 2016 - 06:48pm

Haikal Jalil
newsdesk@thesundaily.com

Print

— Sunpix by Asyraf Rasid

KUALA LUMPUR: 

The Umno Supreme Council member said the party had the responsibility to ensure that the social contract, provided in the Federal Constitution, is not breached by other quarters.

He outlined the five rights which have been agreed in the social contract by the nation's founding fathers, which are on the the position of the Malay rulers, the the Malay language, special rights of the Malays and the Bumiputera, Islam and on citizenship.

"Four of the rights, excluding citizenship, cannot be shared with others and are only for the Malays," said Salleh who the Communications and Multimedia Minister.

"This is the basis of Umno's struggle, to ensure that the rights that cannot be shared must be defended. Our enemies are those who try to take away the four rights that cannot be shared with anyone," he said in his speech at the Information Convention 2016 at Putra World Trade Centre here organised in conjunction with the Umno general assembly.

He said Umno must not deviate from its initial struggle to remain as a party with a clear ideology.

"A party that can remain forever is a party with an ideology. Umno's ideology is for the 'bangsa, agama dan negara' (race, religion and nation). The basis is to defend the four rights in the social contract," he said.

However, Salleh noted that party members sometimes forget the basis of Umno's struggle as they were distracted by other matters.

Meanwhile, Salleh named former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as one of the threats and challenges that Umno needed to deal with in ensuring its victory at the next general election.

He said Mahathir's interference in Umno politics was the reason affecting the number of seats that the party had won in the previous national polls.

He added the number of seats won by Umno increased in 2004 after Mahathir stepped down from his position, but declined in 2008 when the latter launched an attack on the then prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

"In 2013 GE when there was no interference (from Mahathir), Umno managed to improve the number of constituencies it won to 88 seats," he said.

"It is clear by just looking at the numbers that Tun (Mahathir) is one of the challenges for us to face," he added.

http://www.thesundaily.my/news/2078157

DPM: Malaysia a model of unity, equal rights for all

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is a model of unity as it assures fair and equal rights for all races as stipulated in the Federal Constitution ...

Friday, 28 October 2016 | MYT 10:39 PM

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is a model of unity as it assures fair and equal rights for all races as stipulated in the Federal Constitution, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said.

As such, he said the ethnic minorities in the country need not be scared to practice their religions and traditional cultures, let alone to be worried of losing their identities.

"I believe that our different religions, languages and skin colours have made us a nation having a rich culture.

"The differences have become the strength, not a weakness, in the formation of Malaysian nation, unity in diversity," he said in his two-minute video message posted on his Facebook and Twitter pages on Friday in conjunction with Deepavali.

Ahmad Zahid also called on all Malaysians to strengthen racial unity and solidarity, which were the backbone in nation development.

He reminded the people not to turn the social media into a medium that could shake national unity.

"Last but not least, I would like to wish all Malaysians, especially the Hindu devotees, Happy Deepavali 2016," he added. – Bernama

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2016/10/28/ahmad-zahid-malaysia-model-of-unity-equal-rights-for-all-races/