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1. INTRODUCTION 1

2. CHARACTERISTICS OF DEMOCRACY 2–3

3. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF 4–5

DEMOCRACY
3.1 ADVANTAGES
3.2 DISADVANTAGES

4. CASE STUDY 6–7

4.1 POLITICAL CONDITION IN MALAYSIA

5. CONCLUSION 8

6. REFERENCES 9

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

All the country in the world has their own system to govern their state such as democracy,
communist, totalitarian and monarchy system. In this essay, I will only focus on democracy
system. Democracy system is a system where people have their right to draft the law and the
policy that will be implemented to govern a state. Through the theory by Karl Marx, the
extreme democracy can be seen in a communist or anarchy system. He stated that
communism is a last stage of social development in a state that implemented direct
democracy.

Karl Popper defined democracy as a system that gave a chance to the people to control or
choose their leader without make any revolution (Iep.utm.edu, 2015). There are two basic
form of democracy exists which are both of the form used to fulfil the people’s wishes. In a
modern democracy, political power was implemented by the representatives that been elected
through election process. This is called the representative democracy.

Democracy is important because it gives citizens the equal opportunities to be a part of

decision-making process involving nation interest. In this case, citizens can secure their
interest. Politician has to make sure their policy will work for the people or they will not be
re-elected in the next election. Like Abraham Lincoln said, democracy is the government of
the people, by the people and for the people.

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2.0 CHARACTERISTICS OF DEMOCRACY

To form a democratic government, people all over the world have come with a several
basic of principles. These principles are very important in order to make a peaceful
government. Usually, people in democracies will support these principles in order to gain
benefits from the government (lawanddemocracy, 2015).

First and foremost is citizen’s participation. Citizens are the most important aspect in a
democracies government. Citizens in democracies government will hold the key of successful
of a government. To form a government, citizens must participate in the election process. It is
their right and duties to elect a representatives that will represent them. They may involve in
many other events such as debating any issues that related to the government, attending civic
meeting and standing for election.

Second one is equality. When we say about an equality, it is mean that people are same
without any discrimination. In a democracies government, they emphasize the principle that
all people are equal without any bias because of their race, religion, ethnic group or gender.
For example like the case of discrimination towards the black people in America. It should
not happened because America was one of the government that implemented democracy
system. Black people should be treated as well as the white people.

Thirdly is regular, free and fair elections. The citizens of a country usually express their
feelings and wills through the election process by electing officials to represent them in a
government. Any form of corruption, intimidation and threat to the people during or before
the election process will against the principles of democracy. For free and fair election, most
of the adult citizens should have the right to stand for government office.

Last but not least is separation of power. This principle is important in order to avoid any
form of tyranny system. That is why they separated the power between the legislative,
judiciary and executive in order to create a checks and balance system in a state. The
separation of power can be seen in a parliamentary and presidential system. This are the
several differences between the parliamentary and presidential system.

DIFFERENCES PARLIAMENTARY PRESIDENTIAL SYSTEM

SYSTEM
The leader Chief executive which is The president is separated
Prime Minister is part of the from the legislative body.

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 legislative body.
Power holder Legislature holds the power Separates the executive and
and the chief executive must legislative function to limit
answer to the legislature the power
Election Executive leader, Prime The executive leader, the
Minister is elected through President is directly voted
the legislative branch directly upon the people
Remove the office If the parliament does not It is more difficult to enact
like the Prime Minister, they legislation, especially in the
can cast a vote of no event that the president has
confidence and replace him. different views than the
This tends to make the legislative body. The
executive leader subservient president only responds to
to the parliament. the people. That is why he
can make it more difficult for
the legislative body to do
anything.

Other than these three principles, there are still several principles more such as
tolerance and majority rules. These principles should be apply in every government in the
world due to its transparency process for the citizens.

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3.0 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF THE DEMOCRACY SYSTEM

Every systems in this world have their own advantages and disadvantages. It is depends to the
state and people to control it. It is important to know the lack of a system because it could
effect a state. By knowing the problems, the government or people could do something to fix
it. For democracy system, there are several advantages and also disadvantages.

3.1 ADVANTAGES

First of all, the advantages of this system is, it protects the interest of citizens. The
citizens in a democratic country are given the right to vote on everything for the sake of the
state. That is why they were given the power and also authority to choose their own
representatives such as the President. This is important to avoid any harmful to the citizens.

Secondly, the advantages of democracy system is, it promotes equality. As I mention

before, one of the principle of democracy system is an equality which means all people are
equal. Everyone has the right to experience and enjoy the development of politics, economy
and social in a state without having any type of discrimination because of the difference race,
religion, sex or class.

Thirdly, the advantages of democracy system is, it imparts political education to the
people (Green Garage, 2015). Democracy could become an education to the citizens. This is
because, during the election process, usually representatives propose their programs and
policies through media social likes television, radio, public speaking, speech, poster and
demonstration. All this effort could change people heart to become more alert and gain
consciousness among them.

Lastly, the advantages of the democracy system is, it promotes change. This type of
political system could promote changes in the administrations of the government without
facing any form of violence. This system could make citizens feel great because they have a
chances to choose their own representatives.

3.2 DISADVANTAGES

Next, the disadvantages of democracy system is, it might allow misuse of public
funds and time. Usually, during elections, government will use a lot of money to promote

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their representatives. Other than that, it also will lead to waste a time due to the campaign by
each parties in a state. It is also possible that the country will be ruled by incompetent leader
who will just spend the government’s money for their own interest.

Secondly, the disadvantages of this system is, it risks the wrong choice of public
servants. Truth to be told, not all the citizens really know politics and social in their country.
Most of them only votes due to a several factors like know the representatives through the
poster. In a voting system, majority wins and there is no distinction between the votes.

Lastly, the advantages of this system is, it can take long to make a decisions. Because
it takes too long time to make a decisions, it will also takes a long time to implement it. It is
totally different than monarchy system where one person is making decisions that are quickly
implemented. For democracy, it is requires majority votes before implementing process.
Thus, it is relatively less prompt in taking actions.

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4.0 CASE STUDY

Malaysia was implementing a parliamentary system under constitutional administration

which is part of the democracy system. This system was based on Westminster system. This
is because, Malaysia was one of the former British colony. Executive power is led by the
Prime Minister. According to the Malaysian constitution, the prime minister must be a
member of the House of Representatives. The cabinet is elected parliamentarians from the
House of Representatives or the Senate for about 5 years each.

Malaysia was one of the country that implemented bicameral parliamentary system which
is the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Senate has 70 elected for 3 years.
Election of its members can be divided into two which is 26 members elected by the
Legislative Assembly to represent the 13 states. 44 members were appointed by His Majesty
the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on the advice of the Prime Minister, including two members of
the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, and one member each from the Federal Territory of
Labuan and Putrajaya.

Parliament also has 222 members, and each member represents a constituency. Members
are selected on the basis of the popular support through elections. Legislative power is
divided between the federal and state governments. This is determined by the parliament. The
supreme law is the Constitution of Malaysia and it requires a two-thirds majority to be
changed (Ridzuan, 2013). The second law is sharia law that focus on Muslims in Malaysia.
Sultan is the head of Islam religious and his power is subject to the government.

4.1 POLITICAL CONDITIONS IN MALAYSIA

According to the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad,

Malaysia is a country with a democratic system that is clear and simple as holding regular
elections. For him, there is no need to imitate western style election because it is irrelevant to
Malaysia. However, there was a protest from the opposition side in Malaysia. The protest
rally can be seen in Bersih 2.0.

Those who make this protest rally are not satisfied with the electoral system in
Malaysia because there is a lot of sabotage and leakage. Therefore, they submit 'eight

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demands for electoral reform.’ However, the government rejected their demand. The refusal
caused them to rise up against it by protesting in the streets on July 9, 2011.

In addition to the weaknesses in the electoral system, Civil Society Organizations

(CSOs) Malaysia also highlight that the existence of coercive legislation as ISA, the societies
act, the university and university college act (UCCA) and also Sedition act have denied the
freedom of people. The legislature coercive Act has prevented the full freedom to the people
in their interest in politics. For the Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM), their goal is to fight for
the equality leads them to rise up against the government. They are demanding equality in the
provision of salaries and wages and a more equitable service to the lower class.

To overcome the problems from getting worst, the government began their act by
arresting supporters, banned the wearing yellow t-shirt, declared Bersih 2.0’s as an illegal
rally and arrested several leaders of the net. Due to the problems that keep happened in
Malaysia have make the political system in Malaysia in unstable state. In addition, with the
controversy that occurred involving the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato 'Seri Najib Tun
Abdul Razak have make Malaysia as one of the problematic country in the world and have
the catches the eyes of the world. Although Malaysia is a democracy state, the people does
not have their full right to involve in the politics and they have been denial to participate in
the politics.

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5.0 CONCLUSION

Democracy is not just a simple word or concept. To achieve this type of concept, the
government should not make the state as their own. This is because, people have their right to
choose the best for the country. To do so, the government should make the principle of
democracy like free and fair election and also equality as the priority one. Government
should not make their self-interest as first point in implementing any policies. They should
always include people in the politics.

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6.0 REFERENCES

(2015). Retrieved 3 December 2015, from

http://www.lawanddemocracy.org/pdffiles/amazing.prin..pdf

Green Garage,. (2015). 16 Significant Advantages and Disadvantages of Democracy.

Retrieved 5 December 2015, from http://greengarageblog.org/16-significant-advantages-
and-disadvantages-of-democracy

Iep.utm.edu,. (2015). Karl Popper: Political Philosophy | Internet Encyclopedia of

Philosophy. Retrieved 5 December 2015, from http://www.iep.utm.edu/popp-pol/

Mustafa Ishak., & Afifi Abdul Razak.,. (2006). Politik dan pemerintahan negara. Kuala
Lumpur: Thomson Learning.

Ridzuan, F. (2013). Demokrasi di Malaysia. Slideshare.net. Retrieved 5 December 2015,

from http://www.slideshare.net/FifiiRidzuan/demokrasi-di-malaysia

Scribd,. (2015). Democracy in Malaysia. Retrieved 27 November 2015, from

https://www.scribd.com/doc/19220289/Democracy-in-Malaysia

Themalaysianinsider.com,. (2015). Elections and democracy in Malaysia — Francis Loh -

The Malaysian Insider. Retrieved 1 December 2015, from
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/elections-and-democracy-in-
malaysia-francis-loh

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