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Dialogues on the Law "DiaLAWgues" 2019 : Dato' Ambiga Sreenevasan

The much-anticipated first DiaLAWgue session of 2019 took place on the 8th of May. Much of the buzzing excitement that filled the hall was due to the fact that Dato’ Ambiga Sreenevasan was to give a talk titled ‘Challenges and Threats to Malaysian Democracy’.




Mr Harcharan kickstarted the event by giving an introduction to Dato’ Ambiga’s illustrious, well-reputed career. When she came onstage, she began her talk by touching upon the previous national election on the 9th of May 2018, which marked the start of a change, done peacefully and without a drop of blood being shed. The audience celebrated this with applause, but she further contended that it was also the starting point for the ‘real work’ in restoring balance and justice to the country.


She listed out some main challenges that threatened the democratic nation of Malaysia; the first of which was corruption. To illustrate her point more comprehensively, she made references to the abuse of power in the human trafficking case in Wang Kelian in the year 2015, where death camps that were covered up by the police were eventually uncovered by journalists. This was one incident among many which described the corruption that festers in public authorities, namely in law enforcement officers.


The second challenge was a breakdown in the rule of law. There seems to be, as she claimed, a system operating outside the framework of the law which undermines the central legal principle of the rule of law. The audience was stunned while she recounted the horrors of past incidents such as deaths in police custody and enforced disappearances. Drawing from these incidences, Dato’ Ambiga stressed on the pressing need of the new government to address humanitarian issues in our country with a greater sense of urgency.

Thirdly, a challenge in the Malaysian democracy is that a change of mindset is required. Some citizens and civil servants seem to be “still stuck in the BN-era mindset”, as Dato’ Ambiga put it.


An extreme racial and religious rhetoric in our country is also a major threat to Malaysian democracy. Racism is and always has been a problem in our country – without it, we would have so much promise. Dato’ Ambiga boldly called the current Pakatan Harapan government out on their static efforts in putting an end to extremist elements in the country. Quoting Nelson Mandela when he said, “No one is born hating another person because of their skin colour”, she very eloquently pointed out that racism was an unnecessary and counterproductive element in a democratic society.


Her final point was that politics actually plays an adverse role in Malaysian democracy. Barisan National, the current Opposition, fails to realize their key role in serving the people and instead focuses solely on running counter to the government.


Despite all its challenges, Dato’ Ambiga stood in agreement with a quote by Winston Churchill which claimed that democracy still is the best form of government in today’s day and age. This is because a democratic system believes in the dignity of every human being and gives every person a voice, a fighting chance to make a change. Thus, it is so with the youth. She prompted the audience as law students to use our position to do good for this country and work towards achieving a vibrant democracy for the sake of our current generation and our children.


The end of her speech was met with thunderous applause. Dato’ Ambiga also generously stayed behind in the hall after the session to dialogue with the students on a more personal level.

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