Not to follow Qasim’s footsteps

The very first walk-out by a group of Special MPs towards the end of 2004 was about Qasim Ibrahim who wanted to be elected Speaker of the Special Majlis. The issue was whether to vote by a secret ballot (so that, it was rumoured, those who did not have the audacity to vote Qasim openly for whatever reasons could vote him), or whether to vote by a show of hands, which was the Majlis convention.

Thanks to technology, today’s election of the Speaker of the Majlis was not affected in that way. But the abrupt ending of the Majlis indicates that potential pitfalls may lie ahead.

For a small nation, we cannot make progress if we allow our country to fall into political fragmentations. The Majlis has enormous responsibilities in this regard.