COMMENT As Malaysia sails into democracy’s twilight, with exciting new laws and what some fear is a tyrant’s foot upon our necks, I can’t help but think that like England did under Charles I, the time is ripe for a Cromwell of our own.

A puritan of staunch belief and stringent moral compass, Oliver Cromwell was a member of parliament, military leader and to a certain extent, a democratic, educational and social reformer.

He was credited with helping to pave the way for a democratic and inclusive England, helping to extend the Magna Carta from protecting the nobility from the royalty, to giving the common man a voice in the rule of the land.

Though some still paint him the power-hungry dictator, what was clear through his writings and historical references, was that he did help enlighten Britain and pried it out, if kicking and screaming, of the Dark Ages.

It was he who kept staunch the constitution of parliamentary forces during battles, and give weight to parliamentary arguments when it comes to legislating laws and national policies.

It was he who put brimstone and fire in the belly of parliament to face off against tyrannical edicts and fight to set up a representative government.

It was also he who helped rein in the legislature when it got too big for its boots and britches, disassembling a corrupt parliament and finally ruling England as Lord Protector.

While some see this as his quest for personal power, others argue he was forced to do so to keep power out of corrupt hands.

For the Rump Parliament as it was called, were too busy profiting from national projects and overstaying its democratic mandate, rather than ruling England wisely as was intended.

He was seen to be rather brutal with those who crossed his sense of propriety and religious puritanism, known to use military force to quell those who threaten his England. For all the good he did, that will continue to mar his name.

But desperate times often call for desperate measures, and we need someone similar. A member of parliament who could steal into the highest assembly in the land, to make the Houses of Parliament once again the true arbiter of democratic rule and the custodian of the sovereignty invested in the Malay royals.

Though we can perhaps hope our Cromwell will have less antagonism toward the hereditary rulers than the original, but one who dares to stand up to tyranny from whomever it may stem.

What we need is someone who can face off against the hijack of parliamentary privileges and powers by those who are only supposed to hold executive functions.

Those self-same ones who were supposed to be answerable to parliament and not vice-versa.

Giving the legislature a kick in the rear

And perhaps also someone who can give the legislature a kick in the rear that it needs when it forgets its real role and starts to play footsie with power.

But while we need a Cromwell, we also need him to be like Cromwell, an idealistic puritan without political baggage, with a strong moral compass and lacking in the all too common propensity to let ambition and hunger for power cloud his judgement.

We don’t need a former dictator for one, even a former yes-man now disenfranchised and looking to avenge his dismissal. Perhaps not even a former second in command of that self-same tyrant now styled as a Malaysian Mandela.

But in the final analysis. while we may be asking too much for our very own Cromwell, we need him or someone like him soon, or we shall find ourselves in quite a pickle. For as things goes, we may end up with our own race-party based Hitler.

HAZLAN ZAKARIA is a member of the Malaysiakini team.