In Malaysia, the two sentinels tasked to shield the citizenry against the Leviathanic State are Constitutional Law & Administrative Law.
Constitutional law is the blueprint of Government machinery. It comprises sacrosanct manuals to ensure the Government does not abuse its power. Constitutional law embodies 2 fundamental concepts: (1) the individual has fundamental rights that the Government cannot encroach; (2) power is distributed to 3 equal branches of Government: the Executive, Legislature & Judiciary.
Administrative law regulates how Government bodies should behave. It ensures that a government body always: (1) acts within its powers, (2) acts reasonably, (3) acts proportionately, (4) is unbiased and (5) adheres to procedural fairness.
Together, constitutional law & administrative law form what we call “Public Law”.
Public law affects the lives of all Malaysians. If you are an MNC whose prime land is acquired by the Land Office at an under-valued price, you can rely on the right to adequate compensation under Article 13 of the Constitution. If the Housing Tribunal fails to award you damages for defects in your dream condo, you can file a judicial review in Court on grounds of unreasonableness. The permutations are endless.
But more importantly, familiarity with public law grants us – the rakyat – the critical insight to ask the right questions in our socio-political space: “Isn’t this a breach of our freedom of speech?“, “Surely the Minister cannot just decide in such cavalier fashion, right?“, etc.
As with death and taxes, excesses of power are certain in every democracy. Lawyers, Parliamentarians and the Judiciary fall back on public law to restrains such excesses of power – but they cannot do it alone without the rakyat’s support.
This blog seeks to educate the rakyat, corporations & even those in the hallowed halls of Putrajaya on Malaysian public law. I hope you will be a little more enlightened whenever you finish reading a post, as I no doubt also will in maintaining this space.