The Perak happenings - technically legal yet wrong?

In a few letters to Malaysiakini, I have repeated the notion that the take-over of the Perak state's governance from Pakatan was democratically wrong, even if it may not be technically illegal.. This reflects a deeper sentiment that our Malaysian politicans in power may seem to embrace - that "If it's not illegal, then it is alright to do it!"

I, of course, find such notions superbly flawed.. The law is only there as a socially constructed tool to attempt to ensure justice - the law itself is not justice.. The law is a path to a higher principle - that everyone be treated with equal dignity where possible, and that their rights are protected.. If following the law means that this principle (and others) gets violated, then you know that something seriously wrong is happening.. This is the story in Malaysian politics at the moment:

BN's take-over has not broken the law, as there are not enough provisions or prohibitions in the constitution or law.. But nonetheless, the process of democracy has been violated.. The laws of a democratic nation should aim to maintain the principle and state of democracy - if this princple gets violated, then ditto to the above.. And democracy HAS been clearly been violated - forming a new government through defections of dubious circumstances is clearly ethically problematic and undemocratic because we do not know if these defectors continue to represent the voices of the people who voted for them in the first place!

On a deeper level, though, I wonder whether I, as a Malaysian, am alone in this way of thinking - that, things can be legal, yet wrong.. Perhaps our local policians in power, such as Najib and Pak Lah, truly believe that following the law is all they need to do, or that what they have done is right.. I doubt that they can think that it was a democratic act - democracy is not 'majority wins!', but that people's voices are represented as best as possible.. Unless, of course, they have some warped perception on what democracy really is.. Or, that in the larger scheme of things, that what they allowed was for the benefit of the nation? If only we could sit down and chat with em', you know, drill em real hard to truly find out what on earth they were thinking when they allowed what happened in Perak over the last month.. Perhaps time will tell..

Fin.
Slipperyhead