Who needs hell?

I have always been against capital punishment, but when I come across stories such as this and this, my emotions tend to overrule my rationale side, and it becomes extremely difficult not to wish for these men to die the slowest, most tortous death possible.

Of which I would gladly administer.

Swish swash

In a constitutional monarchy, it is said that the sovereignty officially lies with the crown but that Parliament (in its role of the peoples’ representative) holds the true political power except in extraordinary circumstances in which the former might be looked upon for a more active participatory role.

Naturally, such suggestions are double-edged swords, as the only criteria for the monarch is an appropriate genetic code. This would naturally lead to opinions as diverse as the individuals themselves; from the active promotion of democratic reforms by Bhutan’s Wangchuk monarchy to the role of the monarchy in the ascendency of Fascism in pre-World War Two Italy.

It is with this background in mind that one should approach the recent ‘political empowerment’ of the monarchy of the states of Terengganu, Perlis and Kelantan.

To highlight a recent event, sections of the rakyat and the opposition party applauded the measures taken by the Sultan of Terengganu in installing his choice of the state’s menteri besar, but as Machiavelli aptly pointed out in his political thesis The Prince, the king, with or without a legislative, must be careful with his liberality in the sense that, if given too much freedom, the country will take him for granted and eventually throw a fit when they do not get what they want.

For example, it has been said that the Sultan can reject the appointment of a menteri besar on any basis that displeases His Royal Highness, even if said menteri besar commands the support of the majority of the Senate (as in the state of Terengganu).

More importantly, this can be done without the need for any justification to the rakyat, who (as voters) are the most important stakeholders in the entire electoral process. This would be an act that is against the very nature of a democratic ideology and arguably the start of a descent down a slippery slope.

As Sultans are human beings like the rest of us, it is more than likely that they too are susceptible to the frailty of the human condition. It is natural therefore to assume that mistakes might be made; mistakes that might go unchecked if measures to ensure non-partiality and non- discrimination were non-existent.

It is not surprising then that the same cheerleaders of the active involvement of the Sultan of Terengganu were rather disquieted by the comments made recently by the Crown Prince of Kelantan with regards to inter-ethnic relations in Malaysia. But if one goes by precedence, then His Royal Highness has every right to make such statements, and if he so chooses to do so, it would be within his rights to appoint political figures with similar ideologies to positions of power within his state.

If the rakyat envisions a more political role for the monarchy, then we should be made fully aware of the potential ramifications of such an act. Similarly, the rules of the game should be modified to ensure that there will be greater transparency in decision-making processes that affect the rakyat (from the rationale behind accepting or dismissing locally-elected wakil rakyat to the business dealings of members of the royalty) and to also ensure that no potential miscarriage of justice will go unpunished.

It is entirely reasonable to expect the monarchy to regain its role in the politics of today. As the philosopher Immanuel Kant theorised, ‘A republican form of government, forma regiminis, is one in which the executive power of the government as such is separated from the legislative power; it is characterised by freedom, by dependence on a common constitution, and by equality. It is hence perfectly possible, for a monarchy to be republican in form’.

With this view in mind, it is essential that ambiguities in state laws are done away with and that they are updated to suit the needs of today’s rakyat.Therefore, the agenda for change that is being lauded by the Pakatan Rakyat should not only include the judiciary and executive, but also actively address the role of our monarchy in the changing political landscape of our country.

The day I punched my consultant (in jest, of course)

Last week's on-call passed rather uneventfully, and only served to prove that the hospital is horrendously overstaffed during office hours and hopelessly understaffed after five. I had rather ambitious aims of dedicating the weekend to my respiratory project, but all plans were scappered when I woke up this morning with a sensation that probably bears closest resemblance to that of being knocked at the back of the head with a baseball bat.

I would like to take my hats off at this stage to the discoverers of paracetamol and ibuprofen.

The early part of the weekend was spent getting to know my long-lost relatives a little better, and having a closer glance at politics on a local level. Besides making 2 new friends (pictured below), I also had a rather interesting experience of comparing the differences between council elections in the UK and Malaysia.

The leafleting aspect of the day was tremendously tiring, but it was a useful experience in many ways; from discussing policies to setting foot to housing estates set in the entire socio-economic spectrum to having a chat with candidates about issues that plague the various wards. The main downside of the day was the (literally) nauseating meal I had in the pub we sat down for lunch. Probably the reason I felt so unwell this morning.

The funniest bit of the day was when my cousin and I stood next to a house that was displaying posters for the BNP and chatted loudly about how we'd love to move into the neighbourhood. The looks of incredulity on their faces were priceless.

Today was slightly less eventful though and it was spent feeling sorry for myself for various reasons and with attempts to watch the latest episodes of Pushing Daisies. And it's back to the stroke unit tomorrow.

Joy.

Chilling with the matrioshkas

It's always nice to have some time off after an exam. Especially if the exam involved sitting on your butt for a total of 9 hours as you pour over questions that serve to remind you that yes, perhaps you should have spent a little bit more time on memorising the ten different causes of retinitis pigmentosa instead of laughing your head off with the various Family Guy episodes that you decided to watch.

It's been a good weekend so far though - managed to tidy up and clean the house, read up on the couple of dozen comics that have been gathering dust, reading non-academic material with a slightly smaller amount of guilt and starting to go through the DVDs that I habitually buy and then keep aside.

So naturally, I was not terribly appreciative when the taxi driver from this morning decided to try and solicitate some medical advice regarding his flagging libido and his erectile dysfunction. Surely there's a time and place for such things that does not involve chatting to a random stranger outside of clinic. I can never understand why some individuals think it is appropriate to badger medical staff outside of work. I'm sure it'll be a totally different scenario if we charged by the hour.

To make things worse (i.e. to increase my annoyance), he kept trying to convince me that his specially created drink (milk and raw fish that're blended into a shake) is the au naturale replacement for Viagra. I tried my best to think of a way of telling him that I couldn't really care less, but by time I had come up with a suitably diplomatic way of telling him to shut up, I had already arrived home. I need more practice.