I had a rude shock when both Najib Razak and Pak Lah endorsed the position taken by Umno backbenchers in not supporting their leader Shahrir Abdul Samad in Parliament recently. Shahrir's resignation as the leader of the Backbenchers Club was therefore welcomed by them as being appropriate and consistent with the requirements of party discipline as adopted by Umno.

Umno requires that its members of parliament not support any motion proposed by the opposition in Parliament regardless of whether such motion has any substance or in the best interest of the public. This seems to imply that Shahrir had erred and probably had violated Umno rules for supporting the proposal by the opposition leader Lim Kit Siang.

But it should be said that elected members of parliament all owe their positions to the members of the public at large. Therefore it is their primary duty to protect the latter's best interests and uphold the basic tenets of the rule of law by ensuring that they are enforced without fear or favour.

As a voter, I still remember that Pak Lah and his band of followers had argued during the last public elections that there was no need for a strong opposition as the were already more than enough checks and balances within Umno, BN and at the cabinet level to ensure that the would not be any abuse of power in the government.

Shahrir's case, on the contrary, had eloquently demonstrated that we must have a strong opposition, otherwise the law enforcement officers would be coerced to 'close one eye' to some and both eyes to others when carrying out their responsibilities.

What is required is that members of parliament uphold the constitution and the rule of law of the country as they are the very people who are directly involved in enacting them. In doing so, as representatives of the people, they must embrace the basic values and principles of a civil society.

The rule of not voting according to conscience as adopted by Umno as part of its party discipline has turned Parliament into an arena where various triad gangs comprising members from the ruling parties and the opposition parties roam around, shouting abuse at each other.

We must appreciate that there is substantial difference between a gang and a team. A gang conspires whilst a team inspires. It is for this reason that there a lot of conspiracies within Umno as their values and disciplines are constructed on the wrong footing. These are certainly contrary to those that are championed by the promoters of Islam Hadhari led by Pak Lah.

By this token, we must maintain that there is no place for any member of parliament who has been coercing or corrupting law enforcement officials to 'close one eye' or both eyes in the course of their duty.