We live in a good country. There’s much to be thankful for living in Malaysia.

The weather is great, sunny all year round with rain to bring the temperatures down with a cooler rainy season at the end of the year. No disastrous glacial flooding as in the Nepal floods (though we feel for their grief and loss), no earthquakes. Thank God the land doesn’t rest on earth-wrecking fault lines! We are also out of the way of hurricanes!

We enjoy great beaches, assailable mountains, several popular tourists destinations and developed resort facilities. Our economy isn’t thriving but moving forwards even if slowly! We are no longer a developing country but still some ways to go to becoming a fully developed nation

And we are a lovely people — if we don’t get mired in politics! Then we lose our senses, accusing others of bias and discrimination but, having learnt from the painful experience of the May 13 racial riots in 1969, we exercise some restraint, and since then have co-existed somewhat peacefully with the majority and minorities in our midst.

As is true of all nations and life in general, we are not postcard-picture perfect. We have our share of problems some of which are well handled with the rest leaving much to be desired. But, we practise a parliamentary democracy where the people are free to change their governments in the hope that the next administration will be better than the previous one.

That practice, however, is now under threat. It is a major concern because since the appointment of Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister in 2020 without proof of majority support from the MPs, subsequent PMs were all appointed.

Elections are held without the people knowing who is the designated PM or chief minister (CM) or mentri besar (MB) and the choice is undemocratically and unconstitutionally left to the king and rulers.

The current PM, Anwar Ibrahim, was appointed without proof of majority support from the MPs which is a constitutional requirement. In the state elections that followed in Sabah, Johor and Negri Sembilan, the CM and MB was appointed by the rulers and governor (in Sabah).

This simply means, the PM, CM and MBs are not the people’s choice. That is now the sad state of our parliamentary democracy. The people have lost their democratic right to choose their own leaders and the elected representatives are doing nothing to restore that right.

Despite 69 years of independence after Merdeka on Aug 31, 1957, our parliamentary democracy has not strengthened but weakened. There is only one reason for this decline: Our elected representatives have no idea how to form a constitutionally legitimate government.

As long as Barisan Nasional (BN) with Umno as its lynchpin party was able to win a majority, its poster boy in every election was duly appointed the PM or CM or MB. If the poster boy’s party or coalition won the election, it was understood that he had the support of the majority of the MPs or elected representatives. In choosing the party or alliance he represented, the voters were also choosing the designated top official.

Thus, the selection was both constitutional and democratic and the poster boy was duly appointed as the PM, CM or MB.

All that changed when BN lost its majority and split the Malay vote. In the 2018 general election a new coalition comprising Pakatan Harapan, new Malay-based party Bersatu and PAS was able to get the majority vote and its poster boy Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad returned as PM for the second term.

Then, in 2020, Muhyiddin staged a coup against Mahathir and claimed he had a majority and ran to the palace with his list and the king appointed him as PM, even though there was no official record that he had the support of the majority of the MPs since Mahathir also claimed he had the majority.

In the 2022 general elections, it was the same. It was a hung Parliament, but Anwar was appointed PM and the practice was followed with the PM, CM and MB being appointed by the king, rulers and governors.

In the face of a hung Parliament or state assembly, the elected representatives apparently don’t know how to set in place a democratic system to select the top elected official that is the choice of the people. Since they have no basis to insist that their choice is the people’s choice, the king, rulers and governors appoint and the elected reps accept it. But it is neither democratic nor constitutional.

That is the tragedy of this, the 69th year of Malaysia’s independence. We have leaders who still do not know how to form a legitimate government that is both constitutional and democratic, conforming to parliamentary democracy, which is the form of government we practice.

Our leaders do not realise that they are the elected government entrusted to ensure that the democratic rights of the people are protected and respected, including their choice of PM, CM and MB. They don’t know that it is their job to set in place a democratic system that complies with the constitution to enable the people to choose their leaders and that the people’s choices are not overridden or dismissed.

Worldwide, in all democracies, in the event of a hung Parliament or state assembly, the means to select the top official is a confidence vote. In Malaysia, there is no procedure to call for a confidence vote to resolve the issue of choosing the top elected official so that there is clear proof that the elected candidate has the support of the majority of the MPs/elected representatives. That proof is needed to be presented to the king, rulers and governors so that the people’s choice is duly appointed.

Unfortunately, that will to introduce such a system is lacking as the green light apparently is yet to come from the top. Until that green light comes from the top, Malaysia will have a PM, CM and MB who are not the choice of the people.

No doubt it is tragic that the people have lost their democratic right to choose their top leaders, but it was not of their own doing. The real tragedy is that the leaders we have let it happen.