The Parliamentary System

THE PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM (ACCORDING TO THE PRACTICE IN MALAYSIA)

TABLE OF CONTENT 1) DEF IN ITIO N O F PARLIA MENTARY SY STE M 2) FEA TU RES OF PARL IA MEN TARY SY STEM 2.1) CONCEPT OF HEAD OF STATE AND HEAD OF GOVERNMENT 2.2) FUSION OF POWER 2.3) THE METHOD OF ELECTION OF THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE AND APPOINTMENT OF THE CABINET MINISTER 2.4) DISMISSAL OF GOVERNMENT 2.5) THE PRINCIPLE OF COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY AND INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY. 3) A DVANTAGES O F PARL IA MEN TARY SY STE M 4) C RITIS M O N PARLIA MENTARY S YSTE M 5) C ONCLUSIO N

DEFINITION OF PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM Parliamentary system can be defined as representative system that features FUSION OF POWER rather than SEPARATION OF POWER between the executive and legislative institutions and power.

FEATURES OF PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM CONCEPT OF HEAD OF STATE AND HEAD OF GOVERNMENT vthe YDPA is the Head of State in Malaysia. vthe Head of State is a nominal position. Its mean that the power of the head of state is limited and just a symbolic. vHis Royal Highness has the power to safeguard the customs and traditions of the Malay people and the Administration of the Islamic Religion in each state.

ØThe head of state may have reserve powers which are usable in a crisis. It is stated under the Proclamation of Emergency that is under clause (1) of article 150 of the Constitution which states: “if the Yang di-Pertuan Agong is satisfied that a grave emergency exist whereby the security or economic life of the federation or of any part thereof is threatened, he may issue Proclamation of Emergency. ØHowever in most cases such powers are either by convention or by constitutional rule only exercised upon the advise & approval of the head of government. ØMeanwhile the head of government is the one who has the real power that is exercised the executive power in reality.

FUSION OF POWER vThere is the concentration of all power in the parliament. vIts mean that, there is fusion of power between the executive and legislature branch. vIts lead to a different set of checks and balances (various procedural rules that allow one branch to limit another) vThe cabinet minister is the members of parliament and also the political executive vAccording to the Article 43 of the Constitution, members of the Cabinet can only be selected from members of either houses of Parliament. vThis mean that, the Executive (Members of Cabinet) is also the Legislative (Members of Parliament).

THE METHOD OF ELECTION OF THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE

1) The executive is typically a cabinet, and headed by prime minister who is considered the head of government. 2) He is being choose in the indirect election.

3) The monarch still appoints the PM after of general election, although in reality he is always the leader of majority party in the parliament. 4) The term of his appointment is 5 year. 5) But if his party win the elections once again, then he can hold his or her office as long as the “confidence of the house” is maintained.

6) For example: The former prime minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamadhas hold the position for about 22 years because his party has been won the election and the “confidence of the house” is maintained. 8) Formally, the Yang di-Pertua Agong appoints all ministers on the advice of the Prime Minister, which he is obliged to follow. They are always from the members of the ruling party. 9) Members of the Cabinet are typically appointed from the lower house of Parliament, the Dewan Rakyat. 10)The cabinet minister can be reshuffle or reappoint. For example: Before this, the Minister of Defense is Datuk Seri Najib

DISMISSAL OF GOVERNMENT üCan be done through the no-confident vote among the members of parliament. üThis can be particularly dangerous to a government when there are simple majority of seats, in which case a new election is often called shortly thereafter. üIts happen because of there is no more confident in the way of the PM’s govern or when the people want to form new government. üThe member’s of parliament will vote among themselves although they’re the member’s of the ruling party. üBut all the decision must go through the monarch.

THE PRINCIPLE OF COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY AND INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY üThe individual responsibility is for Minister to Parliament and the collective responsibility is for the Cabinet of Parliament. üIndividual responsibility requires that each minister be accountable to parliament for the conduct of his department. The minister must be responsible to parliament for every act or neglect of his department and cannot escape responsibility by blaming his civil servants. üIn cases where the appears to be gross negligence of duty or mismanagement of public funds, Parliament may censure the Minister and force him to resign from his post as Minister.

üCollective responsibility requires that all Ministers be jointly responsible as a team to Parliament. This means that individual minister may not in public express views that contradict or criticize government policy nor may they vote against government policy. üThe cabinet minister will have their own meeting before the parliamentary meeting. üIn the cabinet meeting, the ministers can argued about any misunderstanding but they cannot argue in parliamentary meeting. If its happen, they will faced the disciplinary act. üIf a vote of no-confident against the government is carried in parliament. The whole cabinet must resign.

ADVANTAGES OF PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM qThe ministries are in constant touch with legislature, where the opposition party review every policy of the government carefully. It means that, government will be alert to what is good to the country because the opposition will give their feedback on every government policy. qThe government cannot be despotic. Ex: the government cannot adopt a policy which will be disliked by the public because when the confidence of public decrease then the government can be dissolve.

CRITISM ON PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM qThe life of executive post is uncertain because at any time there could be a vote of no confidence in which case the executive has to resign. So, it is difficult to adopt any long term and consistent policy. qThe government will always adopt a policy that will be benefit the party and its supporters. The policy might unbeneficial to the opposition party and its supporters. qThe head of government is in almost all cases not directly elected not like in the Presidential System.

CONCLUSION Lastly, based on all of the above explanations and examples, we can conclude that, as a multi-racial country, the parliamentary system that has been practiced in Malaysia can be consider as practicable because the power of Monarch is still exist although it just a nominal power. Besides that, the present government will do anything to gain support from people. This means, the peoples’ welfare will not be abundant.