It is heartbreaking to hear silly and mindless ideas from these elected representatives, be they MPs or ADUN 

OUR lawmakers have a nag to supply comic relief. Well, to some, the same can be a source of despair. And you have the occasional drivel. 

It is heartbreaking to hear silly and mindless ideas from these elected representatives, be they MPs or state assemblymen (ADUN). 

Let me just pick on some very recent examples. They involve two PAS lawmakers making silly statements, one in the Federal Parliament and the other in a state assembly. 

In Parliament, on Nov 28, Datuk Dr Nik Muhammad Zawawi Salleh, PAS MP for Pasir Puteh, raised a query on the annual leaves as per the Employment Act 1955. 

Currently, the legislation states that employees are entitled to a certain number of paid annual leave days based on their length of service: Eight days for those employed for less than two years, 12 days for those employed between two and five years, and 16 days for those employed for five years or more. 

Why differentiate, he asked. In other words, why discriminate according to years of service. 

If I hear him correctly, he is calling the human resource minister to review the act and make it 16 days for all employees, regardless of the length of service. He is making a case on humanitarian grounds. 

I can understand if the call is to raise the floor for the minimum number of paid annual leave. So, for those employed below five years, raise the number to 16. 

But his call for one magic number for all would deny long-serving workers the incentive that they deserve. For many corporations, this is one of the perks to retain good staff — they get higher paid leave for the year. 

So, where is this MP coming from? This lawmaker had read on leadership for his doctorate. Makes you wonder. 

Just before making his point, Dr Nik Zawawi made the following remarks to Deputy Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Mohamad, who was fielding the questions: “Terima kasih sahabat saya timbalan men- teri. Lepas ini menteri, insya-Allah… (laughs) Tapi sebelah inilah.” 

They should quit such tasteless banter. 

Now, onto our second tale. 

Penaga assemblyman Yusni Mat Piah made a baseless claim that Prime Minister (PM) Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was one of the richest politicians in the whole wide world. The 50-year-old Penang politician, also from PAS, based his allegations on a UK personal finance website that ranked Anwar as the 17th richest politician in the world. He had to eat the humble pie with an apology.

Where is sensibility and common sense? Don’t these lawmakers do basic fact-checking before shooting their mouth? 

Remember the Chin Peng gaffe by the first-term PAS parliamentarian Dr Siti Mastura Mohammad last year? 

Another lawmaker with a doctorate, she made the incredulous claim that DAP chairperson and Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng had family ties with Communist Party of Malaya leader the late Chin Peng. If that was not enough, she stretched her imagination to link Chin Peng to former Singapore PM Lee Kuan Yew. 

On the whole, we need our lawmakers to step up. 

We understand that you need to play to the gallery, from time to time. We understand that you need to impress your crowd, from time to time. You need to play politics, as we are fond of saying, from time to time. But that should just be the “selingan” — interlude — to the real work at the august chambers of Parliament or the state assemblies. 

We need you to step up because you are His Majesty’s Opposition. If the government of the day messes up, the voters may decide to yank them out. That would mean that you will take over their place, and run the government — be it the federal government or the state government. 

It has happened before, right? In the past, we had Barisan Nasional running the roost for the longest time. Then, surprise, surprise, came Pakatan Harapan (PH), though it did not last. Perikatan Nasional then came to helm the government. And now back to PH. 

So, you see, we need all sides to be ready and able to take on the government mantle, should they win the people’s mandate. 

This would also include the present Opposition lawmakers. So, please, up your game. 

Habhajan Singh is the corporate editor of The Malaysian Reserve.