Twenty-fifth Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference
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important role of the Opposition. The most immediate, forceful, and realistic protection to the human individual vis-a-vis government policy could be given through the individual
ort of private members using those mechanisms of Parliament.
Tanzania did not believe it was enough to proclaim freedom of speech, association, or belief without making sure that what was voiced by the individual found its way into the decision-making machinery of government. It had therefore written into the Constitution that every citizen must be given every opportunity to influence party and Government decisions. An elaborate system had been set up, starting with groups of 10 houses and working up through party branches to national level. The party was the supreme organ of State. Non-members of the party were also heard through a system of affiliate organisations.
Autonomous local government for each village was also constitutional; each villager of 18 or over sat in his village assembly and anything could be decided without reference to or interference from the centre. There was also provision in the Constitution for the office of ombudsman.
Democracy, or government by discussion and consent, was by no means the natural or easy way for men to order their lives, and it was still imperfect, even after centuries of growth, and vulnerable to a takeover, said a member of the United Kingdom delegation. There were two fundamental ways in which Parliament could, and must, sustain human rights principles. The first was the defence of the realm, which should be the first concern of any democratic Government. There was little freedom for the individual in a country at war, and less still for people in an occupied country. Defence against external threats and security against subversion at home had to be absolutely paramount in the minds of parliamentarians, and had to have first claim on the nation's purse.
Secondly, the enjoyment by all of equal rights under the law could be fully achieved only if the judiciary were wholly independent, if it interpreted the law as it stood, and if it always drew Parliament's attention to reforms that were needed. Parliament's role was to see that laws were well drafted and thoroughly debated; that they were clear and widely published; that they did not discriminate on any grounds between one person and another; that they were regularly reviewed, and, if necessary, amended or revoked. Parliament had to be vital, vigilant, and vigorous, and members of Parliament had to act as trustees of the whole nation.
A New Zealand delegate suggested that the essence of democracy was to be found not in the right of free speech, but in the right to be wrong. He drew attention to the large number of people who were in prison because of their consciences.
A Maltese delegate stressed the relationship between individual freedom and political welfare, and pointed out the fallacy in assuming that it was possible to adopt socialist economic policies while preserving individual freedom and human rights. The development of parliamentary democracy had been made possible by the development of a market economy, which acted as a deterrent to the concentration of power and government interference in the economy.
In India the Constitution was supreme, and not Parliament, but Parliament occupied a pre-eminent and pivotal position: it was representative in character and directly accountable to the people at large; it reflected the views of the common man, and the contributed
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protection of civilian and political rights and liberties. But whether enshrined in a Constitution or not, freedom was a birthright of all people, and the sympathy at present being directed towards the Kampucheans should be extended to black South Africans also.
Malaysia's Federal Constitution guaranteed liberty of the person, prohibition of slavery and forced labour, protection against retrospective criminal and repeated trials, equality before the law, prohibition of banishment, freedom of movement, speech, assembly, association, and religion, and education and property rights; but some of those rights were qualified in the Constitution because of the recognition, after independence, that it was not possible or desirable to treat all people equally.
Legislation inconsistent with the provisions of the Malaysia's Constitution could be passed to prevent subversion, even though the Act was outside Parliament's legislative powers; and the king could make emergency laws when Parliament was not sitting. It could be assumed that it was the wish of the people that discriminatory and restrictive laws