ONE PM, THREE CMS?

By : LAWRENCE LEONG

ON the October 2, 2012; I posted my article under the heading, Three PMS – Plausible Or Cuckoo?, citing Spain as an example of having one President for the country and respective presidents for their autonomous regions and quoting the late Tun Dr. Ismail, pg 150 – The Reluctant Politician, as follows:-

"The people of Malaysia do not need outsiders to champion their struggle against colonisation, because we ourselves rejected colonisation from our land, because the formation of Malaysia is a major act of decolonisation."

This suggestion may seem a tad confusing or hard to accept for some for having too many 'Presidents' or Prime Ministers in one country. On reflection, since our parliamentary system was lifted out of the British system, I took a look at the parliamentary structure of the United Kingdom.

The United Kingdom is made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, also commonly known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Like Malaysia, it is one country with four regions. The difference is, we have three regions, being Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak.

There is no secret that Malaya has been robbing the rights of Sabah and Sarawak on the sly by changing a word here as in the case of the position of 'The Yang Di-petua Negara to Yang Di-petua Negeri, or by passing an Act through Parliament as in The Petroleum Act, whose sole intention was to rob Sabah of her wealth.

On top of that, the number our parliamentary seats have been diluted to unfair proportions to advantage Malaya, apart from gerrymandering.

Quote from Mat Sabu, 'TAIPING: Pakatan Rakyat is considering the feasibility of having Three Deputy Prime Ministers if it takes Putrajaya in the coming general election, according to PAS Deputy President Mohamad Sabu.

One of the Deputy Premiers would be from Sabah or Sarawak, he told FMT after addressing a ceramah on Sunday in Simpang, a few kilometres from here.

“We are still in discussion on this issue and have yet to come to a conclusion,” he added'.

This article, 'Three DPMs ifPakatan Rules' dated 9/10/2012 on Freemalaysiatoday, although not conclusive showed very clearly the arrogant attitude of Mat Sabu towards the two Nation States of Sabah and Sarawak.

It is this very same type of attitude that we have always to bear in mind why the local opposition parties cannot be left out when we cast our votes. How can he justify, albeit an inconclusive suggestion, that Malaya have three big guns, and either one from Sabah or Sarawak, when winning GE13, PR depends on how the East Malaysians vote?

The UK has a Prime Minister and his cabinet to run the various portfolios, similar to ours. The glaring difference is that each of the region has for example, in Scotland, a First Minister and his cabinet known as Cabinet Secretary.

In other word, Scotland's First Minister and his Cabinet Secretaries is similar to a Chief Minister and Cabinet Ministers for Sabah, Sarawak and Malaya. This means each partner in the union has one CM to rule their respective region, slightly different from England. Since Malaya is made up of a FEDERATION, the CM of Malaya can appoint a Deputy CM to rule each particular state.

Unless Putrajaya is able to deal with our values and interests, and reconcile our concerns, to allow local people to exercise local power, MA63 is but a piece of paper not worth the ink it is written on and the feeling that East Malaysians have been short changed will never go away. As people of one country, it is time to put things in the right order as initially intended.