SHAH ALAM, Jan 27 — A government that has lost the popular vote lacks the moral right to lead even if it managed to secure enough seats, Umno’s Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah said today.
The former minister popularly known by his moniker Ku Li said moral legitimacy is a crucial element in a constitutional democracy, but is often dismissed or given insufficient weight in less developed democracies.
“Should that election be run on the principle of victory as reflected by being first past the post, then a political grouping without a majority of popular votes but having the majority of elected seats will be on a sticky wicket,” he said.
“This would amount to a lack of moral right to lead. I would consider moral right as the second element to leadership right,” he told a forum here organised by G25, a group of retired top civil servants.
The Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, anchored by Tengku Razaleigh’s party Umno, won the last general elections in 2013 by a simple majority of 133 out of 222 parliamentary seats.
Opposition politicians and government critics claimed gerrymandering and insisted the BN only garnered 47 per cent of the popular vote.
Tengku Razaleigh said a fairly contested election was paramount to a functioning democracy.
He also stressed that a government that lacks ethical practice, integrity, honesty and sincerity has no moral right.
“A morally upright leader would have a strong moral high ground as his leadership base,” he said.
“Conversely, once that high ground is lost, the right to remain in office becomes ticklish. In this age of social media, this loss of right would be made known and spread around in a swift manner in no uncertain terms,” he added.
Tengku Razaleigh was speaking at a forum discussing reforms.
Panellists comprised mostly of former civil servants and academics.
