“A TALE of architecture and democracy” (Over the Top, The Star, June 9; online at bit.ly/star_rasdi) by Prof Dr Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi is enlightening and insightful.
It is sad but true that many of us do not have a deep understanding of democracy and what it should mean in Malaysia. Our education system does not provide sufficient information on this. It is really interesting how the columnist highlights the lack of three important characteristics of a democratic system – ie representation, accessibility and accountability – by analysing the architecture of some important buildings in our country. A lot of the rakyat’s money is used to build palatial government buildings. Yet how many of us actually feel that our politicians or civil servants are there to serve us and not to make us feel that they are doing us a favour when attending to us?