KUCHING: Sarawak Attorney-General will need to study on whether there is a need to enact anti-party hopping law in the state following the recently passed Anti-Party Hopping Bill in Parliament.
IGabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) parliamentary chief whip Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said this was because there was already a provision in the Sarawak Constitution in terms of anti-party hopping.
“However, it cannot be enforced due to a previous court case in Kelantan which said that the legal provision was invalid as it clashed with the Federal Constitution,” he said during a press conference after officiating at the opening of the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM) Sarawak Secretariat Office at Wisma Saberkas here today.
He was responding to questions on Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) president Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili who proposed for Sabah and Sarawak to table the anti-party hopping law at the state level within 60 days.
Fadillah, who is also the Petra Jaya MP further said that now following the Constitution (Amendment) Bill (No. 3) 2022 on the Provision for the Prohibition of Members of Parliament (MPs) from Party Hopping, it means that the provisions (concerning anti-party hopping at the state level) may now be enforceable.
“But, it is up to the Sarawak Government to study whether it is necessary to enact similar legal provision as the Federal Government or whether the existing provision is sufficient.
“Thus, there is a need to study on this matter. But as far as Sarawak is concerned, there is no problem. We fully support this Anti-Party Hopping Bill,” he said.
On the request by Pakatan Harapan (PH) Presidential Council for the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to fulfill matters concerning limiting the prime minister’s tenure to two terms as stipulated in the previous agreement signed between PH with Ismail’s government, Fadillah felt that the matter needed to get the views from various parties.
“(Whether) it is good or bad (on limiting the prime minister’s tenure), this needs to be negotiated from time to time according to suitability of the situation.
“For instance, in Indonesia, they have limited the term of office for their president to two terms only.
“However, due to the good performance of their president, there are calls for the existing president to continue his service, but the existing law does not allow that,” he said.
Fadillah stressed hence the matter needs to be properly looked into on whether and when it is appropriate to be implemented.
“We need to see the matter not only from the point of view of political parties but also from the point of view of the academic, the public and so on.
“Only then can we have an inclusive policy,” he said.
