KUCHING: Party hopping is part of democracy but it has its disadvantages.
Sarawak Patriots Association (SPA) chairman Datuk John Lau said this in view of certain politicians switching from one party to another.
“SPA therefore urges the federal government to enact an anti-hopping law to prevent elected representatives from switching parties after they are elected to the office,” he told New Sarawak Tribune, today.
He mentioned if elected representative switch parties, it is only ethical for them to resign and recontest under their new party.
“It is not ethical to desert the party that helped the representatives to campaign during the general election and thereafter they jump to another party.
“This is a question of integrity as the people voted for them because of their political affiliations,” he stressed.
He said though it is silent in the Federal Constitution concerning anti-hopping law, the association requested the Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government to set a precedence and leave a legacy to enact the anti-hopping law.
“We are sure our Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad would like to do this.
“When an elected representative leaves his or her party to join another party, it is good that the representative resign from the seat so that he or she can recontest at the respective area in a by-election,” he said.
Then, representatives who wish to desert their parties would think twice about their actions, he added.
Citing the 2009 Perak Constitutional Crisis, which saw the collapse of Pakatan Rakyat state government when three of its state legislators defected to Barisan Nasional (BN), Lau said it had given the BN regime more reasons not to give any consideration to the anti-hopping law, which brought no benefits to them.
“The belief was that such frogs would only hop from the opposition camp to the government camp,” he pointed out.
He said elected representatives need to understand that they are the people’s representatives who have voted for him or her to parliament and they need to be responsible to the people and leave aside political differences.
Asked on why politicians would switch to other party, Lau said the reasons could either be internal conflicts or that the elected representatives’ wants had not been fulfilled.
“It could be they are unhappy in the party and could not get what they want, particularly positions.
“Those who leave to another party might also be looking for potential prospects in another party,” he added.
Lau pointed that Malaysia is a country where politicians could switch party, whereas it seldom happened in countries like Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, and Taiwan.
