"Parliamentary Puppetry" indeed, my friend ...

"So pliantly and passionately Pandikar Amin
plays and dances to their every tug and tune,
much to Umno's great delight, pleasure and purpose....."
~Martin Jalleh, Pure Puppetry in Parliament

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Welcome to the real world, Martin!!
Nothing new here!
Puppetry indeed- but when has it been any different?
Under Tunku, Razak, Hussein Onn, Mahathir or Abdullah Badawi?
If anybody thought things would be any different under APCO's Najib, they were simply delusional. If they hoped that the depletion of BN/UMNO's 2/3 majority and PR would have changed things overnight- I'd say that they were unrealistic (considering the number of Mahathir-bred nincompoops in Umno/the civil service/security forces).

Exactly two years ago, during the euphoria of the post-308 period, I wrote as follows:-

"written by cruzeiro, December 19, 2008 12:44:35
Under the BN system of the "social contract", the Parliament isn't supposed to work!
It's just meant to be an "ornament", to showcase democracy.
This has been the scenario ever since 1971, after the unity govt became BN under Tun Razak - so that the opposition was rendered a lame duck due to low numbers,
and wouldn't have a voice.

The parliament was meant to be subverted thru backdoor deals
done behind closed doors, due to the overwhelming majority of the BN.
To do that, they first subvert the opposition states/ parties, by making them "allies" first.
Slowly but surely, they emasculate/ neutralize these parties.
This way, they appear to be "strong", when it is actually the opposition that is weak ...."
- With an Umno Govt, The Parliament Should be Dysfunctional!

So, I now repeat myself ....
The parliament has been inefective by design for decades. The Parliament has long been functioning as a facade for "democracy" in an otherwise despotic state ruled by a regime of kleptocratic mafiosos. It was always the "legitimizing tool" which they have used to placate a docile, subservient, adulating and idolising people who dwell in apathy. (But of course- there is one more avenue for legitimacy these days - it's fashionable to invoke the name of God and religion).

The Umno warlords who control the strings of "parliament" don't care about nation-building as much as they care for their personal asset building. One need not look any further than the scions of past Umno-putras to see that fact. The Parliament isn't what it was meant to be at its inception- it is today the whorehouse, where people sell their souls to Umno interests, while those who oppose the "mafiosos", make monkeys of themselves in their futile efforts to thwart the kleptocracy.

The Parliament as we know it, is a shell of what it used to be- both in form and substance. throughout the Mahathir era, Umno has worked diligently and patiently worked towards progressively centralizing and consolidating power- with scant regard for the democratic principles upon which the Federal Constitution was written- and the Judiciary, Monarchy, the Parliament and consequently the Rakyat have been the victims. Najib regard for the sanctity of the august house was made clear with the "Rape of Perak"- and today he has brought it to Kuala Lumpur.

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"No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible".
- Voltaire
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I recall a conversation with a Wakil Rakyat from the opposition bench, wherein he lamented how he first entered the parliament full of hope- that he would be able to "make a difference" with the increased presence of PR representatives, only to be disappointed.
He said that he couldn't do much- to which I replied, "Considering the quality of MPs we have, don't you think that is the whole idea?" .... and he gave a sheepish smile.

Don't they see that the so-called parliament is "ineffective by design"?
Sometime I wonder what you call all those intelligent people who get "whacked" repeatedly over the years- then go back for more, without doing anything about the "whip" used against them .... it must be a fetish for pain (maybe the word "masochistic" fits the description?. Taking it to another level, Malaysian are mostly like that, I suppose).

Malaysia has never been a Parliamentary Democracy under a Constitutional Monarchy. Ever since the time of Razak, it has been about Umno and nothing else- everything we (and the world) saw were simply window dressings which were used to legitimize the plunder of the nations resources while the Rakyat were treated as consumable commodity.

The parliament as we know it today should have been boycotted long ago for Umno's shenanigans, to let the world see Malaysia for what it really is-
A Racist Dictatorship by the Elistist Umno Oligarchs/Aristocracy!

We have a long way to go before the rakyat know the price that has to paid for their apathy ....

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“So long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom,
those who wish to tyrannise will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent,
and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods,
religious and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men.”
- Voltaire
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