A different breed of elected reps nowadays

I COULDN’T agree more with Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai’s article, “Silence isn’t always golden” (On the Beat column, Sunday Star, Dec 29; online at bit.ly/star_golden).

Decades ago MPs like DR Seenivasagam, Tan Chee Khoon, Ahmad Boestamam, Karam Singh, V. David and Karpal Singh, to name a few, were the voice of the people. With courage and conviction, they articulated arguments against policies that adversely affected the rakyat. They brought to the fore corruption, malpractices and abuses in the administration of the executive. They are the unsung heroes of Malaysian politics.

The trend is different now. Elected representatives of all political persuasions, be they members of the government or Opposition, members of Parliament or state legislature, don’t seem to realise that they bear the heavy responsibility of fulfilling the expectations of the rakyat who voted them into office.

MPs seem to be ignoring their commitments to voters and are busy jockeying for position and power. They frequently absent themselves from Parliament sittings, waste time on trivial matters, make sexist and crass remarks, and deliberately provoke each other. Crude exchanges and shouting matches often disrupt the proceedings.

Aren’t they aware that the proceedings of the Dewan Rakyat are telecast live? What a poor impression children would have of our lawmakers.

Besides their grievances, the rakyat expect their elected representatives to raise questions about issues of public importance in a rational and intellectual manner, and to assess the answers given. But at times, they make uncalled for remarks about some unrelated issues that hurt people’s feelings. When cornered, they blame the press, saying they were misquoted.

In short, they are taking the rakyat for a ride, to put it bluntly.

S. SUNDARESON Petaling Jaya