KOTA KINABALU: Adequate time will be given to ensure that the amendment to the Sabah State Constitution, involving the Anti-Party Hopping Bill, can be tabled and debated at the current sitting of the Sabah State Assembly, said Speaker Datuk Seri Kadzim M Yahya.
He said that there was no problem in terms of the tabling of the bill, although it was placed in the fourth and last position to be tabled at the four-day conference, which will last until this Thursday (May 25).
“The Standing Orders (of the current assembly sitting) have only a minor amendment involving the waqf, land and forest bill; after that, we will take as much time as possible to ensure that the Sabah State Constitution amendment, involving the Anti-Party Hopping Bill, can be debated,” he said at the assembly today.
He was replying to a question from the state Opposition leader, Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, who wanted to know whether there was enough time to table and debate the Anti-Party Hopping Bill as it was placed as the fourth and last bill to be tabled in the current sitting.
On May 16, Kadzim, in a press conference, said that the Anti-Party Hopping Bill was not on the assembly sitting agenda, because he had not yet received notification from the Sabah government about the matter, but had received it later in the afternoon, after the press conference.
He also said that his statement (in the press conference) regarding the debate on the Anti-Party Hopping Bill, which would require a long time, was his personal view, because the debate was seen to involve many who want to express their respective views.
Datuk Dr Yusof Yacob (GRS-Sindumin) then stood up and declared the Standing Orders, referring to the Standing Orders of the Sabah State Assembly, that the decision of the assembly speaker is final. – BERNAMA
