Monday 25 April 2016

Conversation: WP and the EP dialogue

"Very nice. Send a written submission to the commission on the EP, then don't want to speak at the public hearings."

"What tokking you?"

"Workers' Party. They wrote to the Committee on the Elected Presidency to say that the EP should be abolished. But when the committee invited them to attend the public hearings, they refused."

"Orh! That thing ah? They already write in oredi. Go there and tok for what? Waste time lah! Anyway, I hear they say that they will tok in parliament when the committee submit their report."

"Ya. I think they very clever. The public hearing will mean that whatever they write, they can be asked to clarify. And then support their position. They will need to think constructively and make logical arguments and counter arguments. In other words, it is work.

Raising questions in Parliament, simply requires one to be able to ask questions. It does not matter if the questions are intelligent, relevant, pertinent, or stupid, leading, presumptuous, irrelevant, unsubstantiated, frivolous, or immaterial. It just requires one to be able to speak. In other words, it is wayang."

"All politics, all Parliament is wayang, what!

"The other consideration of course is that the dialogue would not attract the almost word for word reporting that a parliamentary debate would. Maximum press exposure in Parliament. No guarantee in a dialogue."

"Of course, lah! Parliament is where the front passenger can slap the driver and show the people that they are slapping the driver. The public hearing is where the front seat passenger gets a taste of driving and they have not studied their highway code!"








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