I refer to the Malaysiakini report Param: Seek accountability, not apology .

Dear YB Zaid Ibrahim,

Congratulations on being appointed Senator and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department. Here are a few suggestions that I hope will come to your attention.

Anti-hopping law : It will indeed be a nightmare if we had a government with a simple majority of less than 10 seats. Political ‘frogs’ hopping from party to another might mean a change of government every other month, bringing parliament and the executive to a standstill.

That said; there should not be a ban on party-hopping. Instead, stipulate that an MP planning to hop must resign and contest in a by-election under his/her new party banner. I trust voters to know better whether party-hopping would be a good idea. A by-election should still be called if it has been less than three years since the general election.

Status of the judiciary : A royal commission of inquiry into the 1988 judicial crisis should be set up. There is an unspoken fear that should Dr Mahathir Mohamad be implicated for subjugating the judiciary, it would result in a severe loss of face and even criminal charges against the former prime minister.

This has resulted in a line of thought that an inquiry should be set up only after his passing, but do bear in mind that the other individuals involved including Salleh Abbas are also getting older by the day and there might come a day when all witnesses will be lost. The ‘Asian values’ of reverence and respect that we have for our leaders should be secondary to the credibility and independence of our judiciary which is of greater national importance.

It is also paramount for our courts to be restored ‘the judicial powers of the Federation’ and not ‘only such powers as Parliament might grant them’. The judiciary should enjoy equal status as the legislature. Indeed, tricky situations will arise where our existing laws cannot explicitly tell right from wrong and it is during these moments that our judges will have to call upon their wisdom, experience and sense of fairness to ensure that justice is served. The judiciary shall then also be able to bring the laws in question to the attention of Parliament for review.

Acts pertaining to Article 149 of the Federal Constitution : The Internal Security Act, with its wide-ranging provisions for indefinite detention without trial, is outdated and prone to misuse. It should be repealed and replaced with a Counter-terrorism Act and a Race Relations Act which specifically details the scope of powers granted by the Acts and the circumstances under which they can be applied. The Acts should also stipulate a fixed period of detention after which legal representation and a court hearing must be provided for or the detainee released.

The Printing Presses and Publications Act and the Universities and University Colleges Act are now working against rather than in favour of the government. When the now better-educated and informed Malaysian public are presented with a blatantly biased mainstream media, and when university students are barred from making political stands other than those which are pro- government, the anger can only manifest itself via the ballot box.

The biased mainstream media has only served to spawn an arguably also biased alternative media on the Internet. Only when there is balanced presentation of information in the media can our voters feel a sense of fair play and subsequently vote rationally rather than out of disgust.

The Official Secrets Act should only be used for guarding the most sensitive information held eg those relating to matters like our military capabilities and the intelligence we gather about other countries. It should not be abused for covering up administrative mistakes or scandals and shady backroom business deals not subject to open tender.

Data Protection : The debate and passing of the existing Data Protection Bill should be expedited. Malaysians should not have to have their personal information treated recklessly or shared without consent by government departments and the private sector. Individuals should also be allowed access to information held about themselves by other parties for a small administrative charge and be allowed to submit a request for amendments (with supporting documentation) should the information held about them be inaccurate.

Peaceful demonstrations and marches : The government has probably realised that proper venues for venting frustration can help mitigate anger shown through the ballot box. Rather than constantly rejecting applications for peaceful demonstrations and marches and resorting to violent methods of crowd dispersal, the police should be advised to set aside venues in major towns and cities for demonstrations and to allow pre-planned routes for marches during off-peak hours.

The Federal Constitution : The Federal Constitution has been amended over 40 times with more than an estimated 650 individual amendments, the last being in December 2007. It is difficult to obtain a copy of the latest Federal Constitution in print, and copies found on the internet are severely outdated (pre-1994).

A complete and updated electronic copy of the Federal Constitution should be made available for download from the Parliament website. (The Malaysian Bar can take note of this and offer a copy for download from their website .)

Thank you for your time.