LETTER | Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said corruption and power abuse will reign supreme if Malaysians do nothing. He further said all of us have choices – whether to pick the good or allow evil to rule. And no sensible person would pick corruption and cruelty.

The question before every right-thinking ordinary Malaysian is rather simple. It’s not a question of political apathy on their part. The matter before the rakyat is a question of deception by the members of Parliament (MP) and state assemblypersons whom we voted for.

This is a public act, not a private act. MPs and state assemblypersons that swear by the Federal Constitution to faithfully discharge their duties to the best of their ability, bear true faith and allegiance to Malaysia and preserve, protect and defend the Federal Constitution of Malaysia and subsequently betray the voters who placed their trust in them.

The matter before the rakyat is a question of the willful, premeditated, deliberate corruption of the nation’s system of justice. If the lie was before the courts, it would have been called perjury.

The constitutional oath these MPs and state assemblypersons swore is sacrosanct, without which, they would not have been allowed to take their seats in Parliament and the respective state legislature.

If they do, they are breaching the constitution, their fiduciary duties to the nation and they are acting outside their sworn oath. This is because Parliament and the state legislature are places of the people and for the people. Whatsoever occurs within it is for the betterment of the people and in accordance with the will of the people.

In acting in the interest of the nation, an MP or state assemblyperson must act in compliance with the electoral mandate given by the people to Parliament and the state legislature. It is the people who elect the MP and state assemblypersons.

So, when an MP or state assemblyperson steps into Parliament or the state legislature, their only interest is to protect and respect the nation, the constitution and the electoral mandate.

To the voting rakyat, what happened in Feb 2020, whether it is cruel and insolent acts, is not the issue. The issue is the lies of those whom the rakyat voted in power, those who had sworn to uphold their solemn oath.

That oath constituted a contract between the MPs or state assemblypersons and the rakyat. That contract was broken in Feb 2020. The rakyat’s trust had been betrayed.

The leaders of all political parties in the country have shown themselves unwilling or incapable of enforcing its laws, for each has corrupted the rule of law by their lies and inaction.

That and nothing other than that is the issue before the rakyat. And the rakyat are still waiting and waiting to see when the laws will ever be faithfully executed for MPs and state assemblypersons that lied under oath repeatedly and maintained that it was done for the benefit of the people that voted for them.

These MPs and state assemblypersons are the trustees of the nation’s conscience. It is clear that recent political development and events illustrate that the country is a continuing experiment, never finished.

These MPs and state assemblypersons can strengthen our Constitution by giving it content and meaning. Instead, they weaken and wound it by tolerating and thus encouraging lies under oath, allowing breaches of trust on their part towards the rakyat.

The rakyat have no authority under the Constitution to punish these MPs and state assemblypersons. Except during a general election, held every five years.

Let’s be clear. The vote that all of us are asked to cast is, in the final analysis, a vote on the rule of law. All these MPs and state assemblypersons were voted in to strengthen and defend the rule of law - not to weaken, not to attenuate it, not to disfigure it.

All these MPs and state assemblypersons were supposed to be our flag bearers. The actions of those MPs and state assemblypersons who betrayed the trust of the voters in Feb 2020 show a lack of common sense and decency and are not befitting of our August House and the respective state legislatures.

The rakyat should not be debating and considering and talking about our apathy towards politics in the country. The decision has been made. In the next general election, the rakyat get to vote according to their conscience.

Are you and your colleagues afraid of this vote? About 51 percent of the total eligible voters want to put in its place a politics of trust and respect and decency and values and to turn away from extremism and abuse of power by politicians and return to a sense of moderation in our political system.

We need to turn back - we still have another chance - before our nation and our democracy have become inalterably and permanently degraded and lowered.

These 51 percent of eligible voters in the country are considering to change the balance of power and the proportionality of the branches of our government in the next general election.

The rakyat now ask you to pause for a second, come to your senses, and realise that the rakyat oppose and detest betrayals by MPs and state assemblypersons whom we voted for.

The rakyat are looking for a solution that condemns these betrayals yet brings us together as a nation, not one that divides us.

We will, in our lifetime never cast a more important vote than in the next general election. We will fulfil our obligation as the rakyat of this country, which is to right a wrong and do justice. That no MPs or state assemblypersons be allowed to ignore the will of the rakyat anymore.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.