MALAYSIA is a federation. Only 30 of the world’s 195 countries are federations.
However, the people in these 30 countries represent 40% of the world’s population. In other words, almost half the world’s people are governed under a federal system.
The system can take various forms though. Accordingly, despite being federations, no two countries are exactly alike.
Be that as it may, they are federations because they have some distinct and defining characteristics which make them different from other political systems.
The first characteristic is that federal systems have at least two levels of government: a central or federal government and a regional or state government.
The federal government governs the entire country in relation to matters of importance to every citizen like national security, national infrastructure, foreign policy, trade, macroeconomic policy, immigration and citizenship.
The state government operates within each of the territories into which the country is divided. Each of the state governments has control over certain defined matters like land, water and public health.
The exact distribution of powers and responsibilities varies greatly between federations.
It is about sharing of powers and responsibilities between the federal government and state governments.
This leads us to the second characteristic of federalism – that is, it provides processes and mechanisms by which the different states can be included in decision-making at the federal level.
Normally, this takes the form of an upper House of Parliament, or Senate, in which the states are represented.
Power-sharing is also achieved through co-operation between different levels of government.
The third characteristic is that the powers and responsibilities of the federal and state governments are enshrined in a constitution which is not easily changed or amended.
The constitution sets out the establishment of the federal government and state governments.
The constitution also establishes an impartial and independent judiciary whose constitutional mandate and duty is to uphold the constitutional agreement between the different entities making up a federation.
Federations are therefore protected by a constitution regarding ways in which power is shared and regarding the powers and responsibilities of both the federal and state governments.
So read the Federal Constitution. As the Malay saying goes: “biar tahu, jangan keliru”. – June 14, 2024
Hafiz Hassan reads Scoop