About Time for Question Time?

The election fever is finally coming to an end and things are settling down slowly and thats nice, to finally have some sense of normality. Except it ain't that normal anymore, we are now in a totally new political landscape where race based politics seem to be getting irrelevant and the opposition is not as feeble as it used to be, it has 5 states at its hands now, and BN has to learn to live with the fact that if they continue at their current rate they are in real danger of being voted out the next elections in 5 years time or maybe less.

But then all doesn't seem well for BN... UMNO seems divided despite their show of unity and loyalty towards Abdullah Badawi. Samy Vellu still refuses to give up his MIC presidency, when its obvious that he is not wanted anymore. Tengku Razaleigh has made no bones about his presidential aspirations in UMNO, and I'm sure he has some covert support. The last time Tengku Razaleigh went for the job, he lost by 43 votes and split the party into 2. It remains to be seen how this piece of development will eventually play out.

As for the opposition, the Perak debacle has finally come to an end and the new Mentri Besar has finally taken office, and all seems well for now. The way the 5 oppo states are administered will be closely watched, and the new state government can afford no cock ups whatsoever of they wish to be reelected the next time. Post 8th of March, nothing can be taken for granted anymore.

Theres been talk of a shadow cabinet, that idea to me is brilliant and it makes opposition in parliament more organized and effective. It gives the opposition a good platform to present alternative policies and keep each ministry in check. Via a shadow cabinet, the public will be better able to judge the oppositions policies and solutions and decide if their a better bet than what we already have at the moment. When each minister has a shadow they will tend to perform better and they'll be kept in check as they will want to out perform their opposite number.

The abolishment of the post Parliamentary Secretary is also I believe a positive development, ministers will now have to be present themselves at parliament and be subjected to scrutiny and be made more accountable to for their actions. But I think its about time we have the Prime Minister's Question Time like the ones in UK and Australia, make the PM come to parliament and face questions regarding the affairs of the federation. Lim Kit Siang says twice a week, but I say lets be reasonable and make it once a week. If the PM can't attend then the DPM can stand in for him. It will keep the PM on his toes and answerable personally on the way he does his job. Let the people be the judge if he is indeed doing his job properly. If he is, then theres nothing for him to be afraid of. After the elections its quite clear that the Malaysian people are quite mature enough to see for themselves how the country is being run, unlike what some politicians from BN like to say. We voted these buggers in and its about time they became more answerable to us.