Is Malaysia's democracy really working? Recent events regarding the appointment of the new Chief Justice and the war of words between the police and Suhakam show that Malaysia is now relying more on unelected committees and organs of the state rather than on the actual elected representatives of the people.

The fact that the Conference of Rulers, a body of 10 hereditaries (including the Yang di-Pertuan Agong) and four former political servants of the ruling party now ennobled as state governors, decided on its own to "clean up" the tainted judiciary shows how serious is the loss of confidence in the elected government. While it is the advice of the Prime Minister that is supposed to confer the job on a candidate, the Conference of Rulers clearly felt the current prime minister could not function effectively in this particular role.

But of course the Conference of Rulers are not made up of uninformed princes. The Conference of Rulers, comprising a former Chief Justice and no less than three former magistrates, must have a reason to depart from convention and "pre-emptively" appoint their own candidate. I have a feeling the Conference of Rulers was giving a clear signal to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad that his manipulative style of politics has caused the public to lose faith in the judicial system.

The issue of Suhakam's investigations into alleged police brutality is another sign of the loss of public confidence in their elected representatives. The police are responsible to parliament, indirectly through the home affairs minister. But the public have no faith that the minister will do his job fairly and justly, thus they resort to this unelected (and legally toothless) committee of retired politicians, judges and other minor luminaries.

In the long-term these developments portend a worrying future for Malaysian democracy. If people have to rely on non-elected committees to seek redress and remedy, it is a sure sign that Parliament is no longer relevant.

Muzanee Thambysha