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Sunday, August 17, 2014

A proposed new formula for decision-making in Pakatan – OMG!



It was Albert Einstein who said “Doing things the same way and expecting a different result is insanity.” I wish to introduce the possibility of introducing a cybernetic element into the decision-making process of the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition. It is a different approach and there are merits in adopting it.
"Cybernetics" comes from the Greek word for "government" and also means "to steer, navigate or govern."
For example, when you drive your car on the road, you receive feedback from the steering wheel, that tells you how the car is responding to your turning of the wheel and gives an indication whether the car is skidding. The brakes give their own feedback as to their effectiveness. Your eyes get feedback from the car movements and you respond accordingly to all these feedback.
What has cybernetics got to do with PR?
PR is a triumvirate of three political parties. They have captured the Malaysian imagination as the only possible challenger to Barisan Nasional, based primarily on communalistic parties, that has ruled for 57 years.
PR has been making decisions based on consensus, i.e., unless there was consensus, the dissenting member or members would merely "agree to disagree" while PR would not proceed on the issue.
Thus on the hudud issue, since only PAS was in favour, they did not move forward.
However, of the three partners, we can observe that PAS has not been straightforward when:
1 (a). they tried to get a law enacted in Parliament so that a previous 1994 Kelantan enactment would activate hudud  there, as the first State in Malaysia to do so.
1 (b). when their efforts stalled, they independently began working with Umno to set up a committee to "study" the matter, for later introduction.
2. During the current “discredited and illegal Selangor MB” fiasco, the intercepted Whatsapp conversation of a senior PAS leader discussing about joining hands with Umno to form a "minority" Selangor government, reconfirmed the dissembling of the PAS leadership. No action seems to have been taken against this research director of PAS.
This was a crass betrayal of their PR partners.
It may be time to consider replacing the current decision-making process of PR and move to a transparent, proportional representation basis that better reflects the will of the people.
Since the federal government is the ultimate goal, and the Federal Constitution is the supreme law of Malaysia that can only be amended by Parliament, it is proposed to give more weightage to Parliament than to the 13 state assemblies.
This decision-making mechanism involves a crucial cybernetic component.
PR’s present system of governance has resulted in public displays of discordance or PDD which do no good to the public’s assessment of PR.
Let’s remember there are several “publics”: the diehard PR loyalists, the lukewarm supporters, the undecided fence sitters, the die-hard BN loyalists, the disaffected BN supporters etc.
The PDD’s we frequently see, as in the hudud controversy and now the illegal MB fiasco, have done untold damage to PR’s PR (public relations).
A different decision-making system involving cybernetics or an automatic feedback loop
It is proposed that each member of the PR triumvirate be allotted votes according to its representation in Parliament and state assemblies, with 60% allocated to Parliament and 40% to all 13 state assemblies.
This system has some similarities to the electoral collegial system which governs the US presidential elections based on the results in the various states.
(a) First, the number of Parliament seats is divided: (PAS: DAP: PKR) as (21:38:29) at GE13.
(b) The number of state seats is divided similarly as (85:95:48) at GE 13.
Note: In both cases, PKR's total has been reduced by one state seat and 1 Parliament seat reflecting Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim's new Independent status.
(c) After applying the 60:40 weightage, we find that the votes, within PR, to be allotted to the 3 members PAS:DAP:PKR, are 29:43:28. Total 100 votes in the new proposed system.
The present, less satisfactory consensus/(agree to disagree) approach could now be replaced by a 2/3 majority vote, i.e., a 2/3 majority of 67 votes means that the decision is adopted by PR and dissenting members must fall in line.
Based on this division, it seems that PKR and DAP together have (43+28) or 71 votes and their combined position shall govern what PR decides, at least until the next general election.
The benefits of this method are manifold:
1. the public can see a transparent process in decision-making in PR
2. while "majority rules", it requires a 2/3 majority which is a commonly-used formula globally
3. the votes of each coalition partner are determined by general elections and subsequent by-elections, i.e., they reflect the will of the people. The parties that get better results automatically receive more weightage in the coalition voting formula.
This is the cybernetic element which determines that the direction of the coalition is automatically set along the lines that the public respond to. It  has its own drawbacks, but it gets PR more votes as a whole.
The party that fares badly gets less votes in the PR coalition and has to work harder at the next GE to win a larger proportion of the seats allocated to it, thus increasing its Coalition “voice”.
4. the formula is basically set at 5-yearly general elections. This gives stability. The public does NOT like to see intra-party squabbles and PDDs in the leadership of a coalition that aspires to become a ruling coalition.
This method of dividing the voting power within PR will minimise such divisiveness and perhaps, reduce the chances of the coalition breaking up.
PR needs to evolve as things change. This proposal is made in humility to try to achieve a more rational and formalised system of decision-making that takes the performance of component parties at the polls fully into account. It is hoped it will receive due consideration.
* OMG! reads The Malaysian Insider.

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