SIBU: Will Sarawak follow in the footsteps of Sabah, Selangor, Penang and Negeri Sembilan to amend their state constitutions to implement their own laws against party-hopping?
Sarawak DAP is claiming that this is the burning issue which “Sarawakians are now anxious to know to protect and honour the sanctity of their votes in state elections”.
Its Political Education Bureau director Irene Chang claimed that calls to incorporate the anti-hopping law into the state constitution had come from several quarters.
“Although several of the state ministers have released statements which indicated their support for the passing of the bill, that could not be taken as the government’s official stand.
“In fact, we have even one state minister who opined that it wasn’t necessary for our own state anti-hopping law. We need to make clear our stand on this matter to assure Sarawakians that they have a state government which is sincere in upholding the people’s mandate and the principles of democracy,” she said in a press statement here yesterday (Aug 4).
The former Bukit Assek assemblywoman argued that in fact, as widely acknowledged, the anti-hopping law as passed in Parliament was not perfect and might not fully deter and resolve the root cause of the damaging party-hopping culture.
She pointed out that though the enactment was a good start, still, it did not cover incidences such as coalition-hopping and expulsion of members from their political parties.
Even though, she argued that situations such as voluntary resignation from a party might be covered by the law, the fact that the party-hopper might still stand and win in the subsequent by-election would defeat the wider purpose of stopping this culture altogether.
“As can be seen in the Sabah election in 2020 where 17 hoppers had sought re-election in their same constituencies and 11 had won, the fact that the by-election may return the same persons to the seat is a gamble which these party hoppers are willing to take.
“The people’s mandate can, therefore, be still threatened in many other ways. In order to stop this culture of party-hopping which betrays the mandate of the people, we therefore need more than just the anti-hopping law,” she said.
Chang also urged the state government to implement political reforms within its system to address and resolve the root cause of party-hopping.
Legislations and policies to deter the elected representatives and to help them to resist the temptations of party hopping should be put in place, she said.
She suggested the allocation of constituency development fund to both government and opposition areas, appointment of opposition lawmakers to sit in different select committees in the state legislative assembly and disqualification of those who had been caught by the anti-hopping law from standing in the by-election as some of the measures which the state government should consider to protect the mandate of the people.
“The state government should contemplate to take steps and dispel all reservation to follow Sabah, Selangor, Penang and Negri Sembilan in making a public stand to amend the state constitution especially when the Federal Court has ruled that Penang’s anti-hopping law which was passed by the Penang legislative assembly in 2012 is constitutional and not against the Federal Constitution,” Chang added.
