PARLIAMENTARY

DEMOCRACY

The Senate (Dewan Negara)

The Dewan Negara or Senate is the upper house of the
Parliament of Malaysia.
The Senate consists of 70 members, of which 26 are
indirectly elected by the states, with two senators for
every state in the Federation, and the other 44 being
appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
The Senate reviews legislation that has been passed by
the lower house of Parliament, the Dewan Rakyat.
Both houses must pass a bill before it can be sent to the
King for royal assent; however, if the Dewan Negara
rejects a bill, it can only delay the bill's passage by a
year (at the most) before it is sent to the King.

Membership
Appointed persons must have "rendered
distinguished public service or have achieved
distinction in the professions, commerce,
industry, agriculture, cultural activities or social
service or are representative of racial minorities
or are capable of representing the interests of
aborigines (Orang Asli)
Each of the 13 state legislative assemblies
chooses 2 Senators.
The term of office is 3 years and Senators can
only be re-elected once, consecutively or nonconsecutively.

 The King appoints two Senators for the Federal

Territory of Kuala Lumpur, and one for the
Federal Territory of Labuan under the advice of
the Prime Minister.
Another 40 Senators, regardless of their states,
are appointed by the King, also on the Prime
Minister's advice.
To qualify, a candidate must be a Malaysian
citizen residing in the Federation, must not owe
allegiance to any foreign state, must not have
received a prison sentence of one year or
longer, and must not have been fined RM2,000
or more.

 Holders of a full time profit-making position in

the public service are also ineligible.
There is no requirement to belong to a political
party.
Parliament is permitted to increase the number
of Senators to three per state, reduce the
number, or abolish the post of Senator for a
particular state altogether.
Members of the Senate are not affected by
elections for the lower house of the Dewan
Rakyat, and continue to hold office despite the
Dewan Rakyat's dissolution for an election.

 The Senate elects a President to preside over

sittings of the Senate, ensure observance of the
rules of the house, and interpret the Standing
Orders of the house should they be disputed.
Should the President be absent, his Deputy
takes his place.

Dewan Rakyat (House of

Representatives)
The Dewan Rakyat is the lower house of the
Parliament of Malaysia.
All bills or proposed acts of law must pass
through the Dewan Rakyat before proceeding to
the upper house of the Dewan Negara, which
must pass the bill as well to have it sent to the
YDPA (King) for royal assent.
The Dewan Rakyat may also amend legislation
at will.
Members of the Dewan Rakyat are often
referred to as Members of Parliament or MPs.

 Parliament's members are permitted to speak on

any subject without fear of censure outside
Parliament; the only body that can censure an
MP is the House Committee of Privileges.
Such Parliamentary immunity" takes effect from
the moment a member of Parliament is sworn in,
and only applies to when that member has the
floor; it does not apply to statements made
outside the House.
An exception is made by the Sedition Act passed
by Parliament in the wake of the May 13 racial
riots in 1969.

 Under the Act, all public discussion of repealing

certain articles of the constitution dealing with
Bumiputra privileges such as Article 153 is
illegal.
This prohibition is extended to all members of
both houses of Parliament.
Members of Parliament are also forbidden from
criticizing the King and judges.

 The executive government, comprising the

Prime Minister and his Cabinet, is usually drawn
from members of Parliament; most of its
members are typically members of the Dewan
Rakyat.
After a general election or the resignation or
death of a Prime Minister, the King selects the
Prime Minister, who is the Head of Government
but constitutionally subordinate to him, from the
Dewan Rakyat.
In practice, this is usually the leader of the
largest party in Parliament.

 The Prime Minister then submits a list containing

the names of members of his Cabinet, who will
then be appointed as Ministers by the King.
Members of the Cabinet must also be members
of Parliament.
If the Prime Minister loses the confidence of the
Dewan Rakyat, whether by losing a noconfidence vote or failing to pass a budget, he
must submit his resignation to the King, who will
then appoint a new Prime Minister.
The Cabinet formulates government policy and
drafts bills, meeting in private.

 Its members must accept "collective

responsibility" for the decisions the Cabinet
makes, even if some members disagree with it;
if they do not wish to be held responsible for
Cabinet decisions, they must resign.
Although the Constitution makes no provision for
it, there is also a Deputy Prime Minister, who is
the de facto successor of the Prime Minister
should he die or be otherwise incapacitated.

Membership
A member of the Dewan Rakyat must be at least
21 years of age and must not be a member of
the Dewan Negara.
The presiding officer of the Dewan Rakyat is the
Speaker, who is elected at the beginning of each
Parliament or after the vacation of the post, by
the MPs.
Two Deputy Speakers are also elected, and one
of them sits in place of the Speaker when he is
absent.

 The Dewan Rakyat machinery is supervised by the

Clerk to the House who is appointed by the King; he
may only be removed from office through the
manner prescribed for judges or by mandatory
retirement at age 60.
Each Dewan Rakyat lasts for a maximum of five
years, after which a general election must be called.
In the general election, voters select a candidate to
represent their constituency in the Dewan Rakyat.
Before a general election can be called, the King
must first dissolve Parliament on the advice of the
Prime Minister.

General Election

 Malaysia is a country that practises

parliamentary democracy.
The election and voting are the important
political method for the people to give the
mandate for a certain party to form the
government.
Elections give the citizens right to pick their own
government.
The government that practises a democratic
system is one that is chosen and agreed upon
by the people through the elections to carry out
the duties or responsibilities in the interests of
the people.

 This is what is meant when we say that the

philosophy of democracy is from the people to
the people and for the people.
All these processes can only take place through
elections.
The party that wins the election at the
Parliamentary level with a majority, will form the
central government.
Those who win with a majority at the State
Legislative Assembly will form the state
government.

 A general election is held once every five years.

However, general election can also be held
before the term is up.
Before election, the YDPA must dissolve
Parliament on the advice of or at the request of
the Prime Minister. This occurs at the federal
level.
At the state level, a general election is held after
the State Legislative Assembly is dissolved by the
ruler or yang Dipertua Negeri at the request of the
Menteri Besar or Chief Minister.
The election must be held within 60 days in West
Malaysia and within 90 days in Sabah and
Sarawak.

 The by-election is held at the death of a

representative or member of the State
Legislative Assembly or member of
Parliamentary or if there is a vacant seat
because of absenteeism from meetings for a
fixed period of time.
It is also held when the general election result of
a constituency is considered not legal.
Only the court can decide whether the result of
an election is illegal after a charge has been
officially made following rules and legislation.

 Usually the High Court will decide whether

the election result is nullified.
The Election Commission will announce
and hold the election again.

The Voters

The voter is an individual who has the right

and qualifies to ballot in an election.
According to the constitution, every Malaysian
can vote for the House of Representatives or
State Legislative Assembly elections:
1. On reaching the age of 21 on the qualifying
date
2. Resides in an election division on the
qualifying date or if not residing is considered
as absentee voter

 The person cannot vote if his name does not

appear on the electoral list. Those whose names
are not recorded in the list are not allowed to
vote.
The qualifying date refers to the 31st of August
each year. This date is made the date for
checking and preparing the voters register each
year by the election commission.
The word not residing means not living or
present in an electoral constituency during the
time of election.
A voter not residing in electoral constituency is
described as an absentee voter and can still
vote.

For example, a citizen who is working in the

federation Armed Forces, a citizen who is living
overseas but working with the federal or state
government or local or semi-government
authority, and a citizen who is studying abroad.
There are two matters that can bar a citizen
from voting:
1. He is held as a person who does not have a
fully sound mind or is carrying out a jail
sentence
2. A person is found guilty and is imposed the
death sentence or jail exceeding 12 months in
any Commonwealth country

 Rationally, a person of 21 is regarded an adult

and can think in a mature manner regarding the
party that he thinks can and is capable of looking
after the interests of the community.

Election Commission

1.
2.
3.

The responsibility of the Election Commission:

Draw up the borders of the electoral
constituencies
Prepare and check the voters lists for the lections
Manage the election process for the
Parliamentary and State Legislative Assembly
The members of the Election Commission are
appointed by the YDPA after consultations with
the Council of Rulers.
Its membership consists of a chairperson, a
deputy and three other members.

 The members are allowed to hold the post until

the age of 65 and can resign from the post by
sending letter to the YDPA
However, they cannot be simply dismissed, but
have to go through special procedures.
YDPA can dismiss a member if he is bankrupt or
he is holding a salaried post or become the
member of Parliament or State Legislative
Assembly.

Vote and Balloting

For a general election, after the YDPA dissolves
Parliament at the request of Prime Minister, the
Election Commission will organize the balloting
process (election).
They also determines the date and place of
balloting.
The nomination can be done in not less than ten
days after its announcement has been circulated.
Any candidate who wishes to contest must obtain
a nominator, a seconder and at least four other
people, whose names are recorded in the
nomination paper.

 They must also be registered voters in the

voters register of the constituency where the
candidate is contesting.
Every candidate has to put down a deposit,
depending on whether it is a Parliamentary
(RM10,000) or State Legislative Assembly
constituency (RM5,000) in 2004.
The deposit is used to pay for infringements of
election laws and is returned after polling day
unless the candidate loses and fails to get more
than 1/8th of the vote.

 The balloting day can be after three weeks from

the date of nomination but cannot exceed eight
weeks.
Before balloting day arrives, the parties have to
form their own manifesto and are allowed to
carry out election campaigns through political
talks.
It is necessary to get police approval or permit
for all the political talks.
On the balloting day, all voters can carry out
their responsibility by casting their votes in
balloting places provided such as schools, town
halls, public halls and government buildings.

 Every voter is given two sheets of ballot papers

of different colours; one for State Legislative
Assembly constituency and the other for the
Parliamentary constituency.
On each ballot paper are symbols representing
the contesting candidates and the space for the
voter to make his choice.
The voter will mark X in the space provided
against the symbol representing the candidate of
the voters choice. The ballot papers are put into
separate boxes.

 For those categorized as non-residing voters,

voting is done through the post.
This means they do not go to balloting place
provided but make their choice earlier and send
the ballot papers through the post.
This includes those who are overseas, members
of security forces and public-office bearers
involved in handling the election matters in
areas outside their balloting districts.

1.
2.
3.
4.

5.

There are causes that can disqualify a person

from becoming a Parliamentary member or
State Legislative Assembly member:
The person is found to be not of sound mind
The person is a bankrupt
The person holds a salaried post
The person fails to send his statement of
expenses for the lection within 33 days after
announcement of result
Person has been found guilty of criminal
offence by any court

6. The person obtains foreign citizenship or used

foreign citizenship
7. The person is found guilty of an offence related
to elections