Malaysian Bar backs call for elected senators

The Malaysian Bar has thrown its weight behind the idea that there should be more elected representatives in Dewan Negara as opposed to appointed ones.

“It is preferable and we should have more elected members in the Upper House than there are appointed senators," Bar Council president Christopher Leong told Astro AWANI. "This is so that the majority of the members of the senate are held accountable and are answerable to the electorate or rakyat,” he added.

Leong said that the thinking behind having a Dewan Negara, or Senate, is that its members should be distinguished and experienced members of society.

These, he said, include professionals, notable people in industry, commerce, agriculture, involved in cultural activities or social services, or are representative of racial minorities or capable of representing the interests of aborigines.

“They are definitely not intended to be a proxy of the executive governments,” said Leong.

Leong said that the public perception was that “the Dewan Negara has not lived up to expectations as an effective check and balance...as there is the view that the majority of the members are appointed, as opposed to being elected".

“They(Senators) are intended to act independently, bringing their individual experiences and expertise as a check and balance of matters coming up from the Dewan Rakyat,” he said.

Leong said that if the original purpose of these appointed senators does not appear to be bearing up, then Subarticle 4 of Article 45 in the Federal Constitution can be used.

“Through that provision, Parliament may by law either: decrease the number of appointed members of the Senate or abolish appointed members entirely; increase to three the numbers of members to be elected in each state; or provide that the members to be elected for each State shall be so elected by the direct vote of the electors in that State,” said Leong.

There are a total of 70 senators in the Dewan Negara. Of those, 44 are appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, including two senators from the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur; and one each for Putrajaya and Labuan. The remaining 26 are nominated by each state: two senators by each of the 13 state legislative assemblies.

Meanwhile, constitutional expert Professor Emeritus Datuk Shad Saleem Faruqi supported having a fully-elected Senate' as he argued that it would be “more democratic”

“The Constitution has certainly provided for that eventuality, and the founders have contemplated that there should be a full election for senators, it would certainly more democratic, I would rather have that,” said Shad.

However, he said that having a Dewan Negara fully voted in by the people must be premised upon having a Upper House that was more powerful.

“Currently, the Dewan Negara is subordinate to the Dewan Rakyat due to the Article 68 of the Federal Constitution, which means that laws can bypass the Upper House,” he said.

“So if we want a fully elected house, it has to be powerful, like the Senate of Australia or the US. Rather than being subordinate, they are coordinate(equal).”

Recently, DAP chairman and Bukit Gelugor MP Karpal Singh called on the federal government enact a parliamentary statute to enable all states to conduct public elections to elect their respective senators, as provided under Section 45.4(b) of the Constitution.

Previously, Karpal had proposed a more radical idea of amending the Constitution to abolish the Dewan Negara. He argued that it did not serve a useful purpose and that the remuneration given to Senators was a waste of taxpayers' money.

Senate President Abu Zahar Ujang had responded to Karpal, saying that the latter should respect the rule of law and the Federal Constitution instead of calling for the Dewan Negara to be done away with.

Yesterday, an NGO Ikatan Rakyat Insan Muslim Malaysia (IRIMM) lodged a police report Karpal on his statement proposing the abolishment of the Senate.

Commenting on this proposal on doing away with the Upper House, Leong said that it was "too radical" and the Bar's stand was that it was better to have two houses for "check and balance".