Of Qu Yuan, Resignations and Reforms

It has been a difficult last few weeks, with party elections and the aftermath of it. I will be taking a few weeks out in June, on holiday with my family to contemplate and to rest. As such, I am writing a short piece for this month’s SJ Echo.

In fact, I am writing this very piece, on the day after the Dragon Boat Race Festival Day, which was on 31^st May 2025. This day is particularly meaningful for the Southern Chinese community. Most Malaysian Chinese ancestors are originally from Southern China. The Dragon Boat Race festival celebrates an important but tragic event related to the governance in ancient China.

This day commemorates Qu Yuan (c. 340–278 BC), a beloved minister of the southern Chinese state of Chu during the Warring States period of the Zhou Dynasty. The Chinese celebrate the day by holding dragon boat races and eating sticky rice dumplings known as Chungs.  The Chungs, as the Cantonese call these dumplings, are a favorite of mine and this year, despite my attempt to reduce my belly fat, I couldn’t help myself and consumed three pieces in one sitting.

The story behind the festival is that of Qu Yuan, an honest and upright minister in the Chu Kingdom. He was also an accomplished poet. Due to slander, palace intrigues, and his opposition to the emperor’s friendship with the Qin state, he was removed from office by the emperor and banished. Many years later the Chu empire collapsed due to corruption and mismanagement, and was conquered by the same Qin state.

Upon hearing the sorrowful news, Qu Yuan jumped into the Milou river in great despair; the people witnessing this rushed into their boats and raced to try to rescue him, but to no avail. This is said to be the origin of the dragon boat race. To prevent the fish from eating his body, the people made dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves (the Chungs) and dropped them into the river. This is also said to be the origin of the Chungs. This celebrated festival is part of the political psyche of the Chinese; in that we have a strong aversion to corruption and a love for justice.

Recent political events have been challenging. My dear friend YB Rafizi Ramli has resigned his cabinet post. I understand his reasons for doing so and believe it to be an honourable act. His resignation was followed by the resignation of another colleague, YB Nik Nazmi. I wished them well and they too deserve a bit of rest and time to discuss their future with their respective families.

For Parliament, we are excited about their return as legislators. Both have good debating skills which will help strengthen Parliament. I believe that with their inputs we can improve oversight powers to provide greater checks and balances to the Executive. We must ensure better transparency and greater accountability of the ministers and the government, so that we honour our commitment to our voters to bring about substantive reforms.

Parliament Malaysia is now at an important crossroads. We were supposed to have our next sitting in late June, but that has been delayed almost a month, to mid-July. This next sitting will be a crucial one as we are expected to give flesh and meat to the skeletal framework of the Parliamentary Services Act (PSA), that was passed last sitting. Since the passing of the PSA, the task to create an excellent Parliamentary practice and culture has become a crucial matter of now or never. The reformist Members of Parliament must seize the moment to push the government to reform.

While I am sad that these two good YBs, Rafizi and Nik Nazmi, have resigned from the cabinet due to circumstances, I am also happy to have their political know-hows in the backbench, so that we can resume the honourable work to put the reform agenda back on track.

Happy Dragon Boat Race to all who celebrate!