Spare the whip, spoil the MP?
08 May 2006
New Straits Times

WITHOUT organised political parties, Parliament would be reduced to a babel and no government business would get done. That is the rationale for the "whip", an age-old system of command and control which belies the freedoms of an elected assembly yet is necessary to prevent it from making a fool of itself.

In all Westminster-style democracies the role of the whip is crucial. Like the "whipper-in" of the hounds in the fox hunt, he marshals attendance in debates and divisions and ensures the party’s desired outcome.

The Chief Whip in the House of Commons is a member of the Cabinet with the job of shepherding legislation. Malaysia’s parliamentary enforcer is no less a personage than the Deputy Prime Minister.

In both cases, he has broad discretion to punish any MP who may be so bold as to defy him, even to the extent of expelling the delinquent from the party.

No one, however, expects that ultimate sanction to befall MP for Johor Baru Datuk Shahrir Samad for voting with an Opposition motion to refer this newspaper to the Rights and Privileges Committee on Thursday.

But the principle remains, and was reiterated by Datuk Seri Najib Razak when he accepted Shahrir’s resignation as chairman of the Backbenchers Club. The standing rule that neither the Government nor Opposition is to support the other in Parliament has been around for too long to be taken for granted.

Shahrir has conceded as much. In any case, he may have got what he wanted: a promise to consider a select committee on a code of ethics for MPs and the consolation of having Datuk Mohd Said Yusof identify himself as the MP in the NST report who had asked the Customs and Excise Department to "close one eye" over an impounded timber shipment.

The larger question is not whether MPs should be lashed to the party’s standard but whether the whip should be applied so forcefully as to restrain the Yang Berhormats from speaking and acting on behalf of the people or, as Shahrir says, in defence of the Dewan Rakyat’s own integrity.

At Westminster, the Chief Whip’s say-so is rarely absolute and usually subject to negotiation. Because the office of the whip is mostly a party matter, outside views are unwelcome. Indeed, the multiracial, multi-religious Barisan Nasional has good reason to swing the strap for the sake of unity.

But if Parliament is to be more than a noisy talking shop, there is equally good reason to exercise the whip with a lighter hand, especially in cases like Shahrir’s, when legislation or policy is not at stake.