It is a small village in the kecamatan of Tambusai, Kabupaten Rokan Hulu in the Province of Riau, Sumatra. During the Padri Wars of 1830's , Tuanku Tambusai (aka known as Fakeh Hj Muhammad Salleh ) fought the Dutch forces together with Imam Bonjol and Tuanku Rao in West Sumatra and in Northern Sumatra .The last defence was in Benteng 7 Lapis,Daludalu which fell in 1838. He escaped capture and came to Malaya. He was buried in Rasah in 1882.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
The Twin Pillars of Rukunegara
On tuesday 13 April 2010 I came across in a leading Malay daily about two of the principal ingredients of Rukunegara, namely the "Supremacy of the Constitution" and "Rule of Law". In Malay it is " Keluhuran Perlembagaan" and " Kedaulatan Undang Undang". The first was related to the speech of the Sultan of Selangor during the opening of the new term of the Selangor StateAssembly and the second was an article written by Prof. Emeritus Khoo Kay Kim. By coincidence I touched on both in my earlier postings with regard to the Federal Constitution and "due process". But what is of interest to me is the call made by the Sultan in his speech is that all citizens in the State should understand the provisions in the Constitution so that no parties make excessive demands beyond what is provided for by the Constitution. And he urged the politicians to explain to their constituents the meaning of the salient provisions relating to their rights and obligations as citizens . More importantly he called for more focus in delivering service to the people and lessen the emphasis on politicking. The problem with most of the State Assemblymen is that they themselves are probably in need of being tutored on what is in the Federal Constitution before they can convey the same to their constituents. And even the MB once called for a revival of local elections when there was a repeal of the Local Council Election laws to boot, which could mean he did not consult the State Legal Adviser before making the proposal. Being an MP at federal level also, he should know where to forward such a proposal if ever he wanted to revive it. So probably in the not too distant future the first criteria before any person could be nominated for election is that he or she must pass a test on the Federal Constitution. This is not wishful thinking but out of sheer necessity, judging from many of the statements coming out from politicians at State and Federal level which reflects their ignorance. The article by Prof. Khoo is more dissecting, where he suggested that the citizens especially the younger generation should be educated on the meaning and implications of the Constitution so that not only they know of the limitations and their rights as citizens but also for those who enforce the laws do not exceed their powers. No matter how well the laws are framed, but there must be a human touch to it where discretion should be exercised and not merely apply the law to the letter. This is where integrity is a vital requirement for all law enforcers so that citizens can have confidence that their rights are not being trampled upon.
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2 comments:
You've very well focused on the issue of understanding the two pillars of Rukunegara, Bro. Upholding the Constituion and Rule of Law are two things that must be drilled into the minds of our young and the Wakil Rakyat. Candidates for nomination to become a Wakil Rakyat and also applilcants for Citizenship should indeed undergo a test on their understanding of not only of the two pillars of Rukunegara but the all five pillars.
The trouble with current government strategy is that the public is being flooded with too many new
concepts and approaches to development. The NEM
and GTP (govt transformation plan) have obfuscated
all the foundations for national unity as set by the DEB and Rukunegara. It's like a strategy of: confuse them and then lead them to where you want them to be. But the Malaysian public now is not the same as it was 10-20years ago. They can reject what they don't understand or what doesn't make sense to them.
Yang kita takut ialah: apa yang tercapai di bawah DEB akan berciciran dan yang dikejar tak tercapai.
Sdr Norzah,
Ya akhi, you are absolutely right. The present leadership is obsessed in putting their footprints on the sands of time at the expense of what have been laid down by the previous leaders.
Instead of getting somewhere, we might just be lost in the woods.
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