However, I did find a very interesting press statement by Lim Kit Siang here: http://www.dapmalaysia.org/all-archive/English/2004/may04/lks/lks3036.htm

which talks about stuff that’s almost similar to what I’ve written. He wants senators to be directly voted by the public as well.

According to what I’ve managed to find, it would seem that the M’sian Senate has failed utterly. It has now become a political dumping ground for BN politicians who have failed to get elected into the HoR (since Senators can also hold ministrial posts, ie: M’sia’s last Edu Minister was a Senator). It is overwhelmingly dominated by BN members. Senators from the opposition, intellectuals, and minorities are almost non-existent there.

If anybody has the M’sian Senate composition, could you please share it with me here? I’m very interested to see how badly it is being abused by BN these days Thanks!

Rajan R: “On the House of Lords, actually the power to delay legislation is a powerful tool used by the Lords to squash many legislation. When the Lords vote to delay a bill, the Commons must redebate the bill. And usually, they would be too embarrassed to approve the bill again, at least in the rejected form.”

Lol, somehow I don’t see that embarassing the BN MPs anytime soon!

And on that VSU thing, sure thing, you’re free to support the bill. It’s just that many left-wing students here thinks that this is the first step initiated by the government in its quest to introduced Australia’s own UUCA.

Personally, if I study in the Commonwealth of Australia, in most universities, I probably would opt-out of joining the student union. Don’t want my money, or the very least any imaginery scholarship money funding a union with activities, including political, I don’t agree with, with services I would rarely, rarely use.

The same ailment plagues Canada and India too; New Zealand got tired of it so for now, Parliament = House of Representatives.

On the House of Lords, actually the power to delay legislation is a powerful tool used by the Lords to squash many legislation. When the Lords vote to delay a bill, the Commons must redebate the bill. And usually, they would be too embarrassed to approve the bill again, at least in the rejected form.

I would say the German model is a rather useful compromise - their Senate (or Federal Council) is made up of state government delegates (that votes based on the direction of the state governments). Unlike in the US and Australia, those delegates cannot initiate new bills, but unlike the House of Lords, they can stop bills instead of merely delaying them.

The Germans seem to have a better model at least when it comes to federal-state relationships; state powers in America and Australia have eroded far much more than they have in Germany.

I don’t think Dewan Negara is elected based on royalty blood, but at the discretion of the YDMM Agong upon advice. There’s supposed to be 2 from each state in Malaysia, and then a few more people who represent certain interests and minority groups.

The reason Dewan Negara is actually weaker than Dewan Rakyat is because DR is officially elected by the people, and therefore represents the voice of the people. I think this system actually makes more sense rather than giving DN more power, seeing as they were appointed rather than elected.