Anti-party hopping law is embarrassing but necessary.
– Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing, late deputy chief minister
I must have written countless articles over the years about treachery within the corridors of power, the Brutuses and traitors and to sum them up in layman’s lingo — ‘frogs’ of the two-legged species.
The issue of political katak has been with us for ages and that is why I find it mundane to keep penning the same subject again and again. I even find it boring to read my own articles on this familiar subject that just refuses to go away.
However, party frogging is a very serious matter and I believe it is the duty of everyone — you, me and all who care about sound morality in politics and good governance to continue sounding the alarm on such a despicable political culture.
Hence, I see it as my duty to touch on this subject yet again.
I believe it is also necessary for me to remind my fellow Malaysians of the Sheraton Putsch of February 2020 — the most treacherous betrayal in the nation’s political history. It was the day the people’s electoral mandate was stolen by political traitors of the most despicable kind.
Let me say this. I can never forget those traitors from Pakatan Harapan who have no qualms about betraying the people’s trust and mandate if their own self-serving greed and lust for power, position and wealth are secured.
Oh yes, I remember them all very well, including three Sarawak MPs from the PH coalition. For being traitors, they are on top of the world now after being rewarded with positions and titles. Let’s see how long their good times will last.
Allow me to send them this message: I wish them well but I’m not sure their generations to come will ever get to enjoy the ‘fruits’ of their treachery. There is little peace and happiness in living off ill-gotten gains, the laws of karma often reminds us.
Indeed, party frogging is a disease which is incurable as long as we do not have anti-hopping legislation in place. Happily, there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel now.
It’s great to hear that de facto Law Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar will finally present the ‘anti-party hopping’ bill in the current session of Parliament.
The minister has conducted several rounds of briefings and consultations on the bill designed to discourage elected lawmakers from switching parties and another one to set a term limit for the prime minister.
Both the anti-hopping law and the term limit for the prime minister were conditions prescribed in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Pakatan Harapan.
While a term limit was among PH’s 2018 election pledges, calls for the anti-hopping law only gained traction after the events of the Sheraton Putsch in 2020, which subsequently resulted in a change of the federal government and several state administrations.
So far, the MOU has resulted in the passage of a constitutional amendment bill that restored Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution back to its pre-1976 wording.
So, will this new bill finally kill the ‘frogs’? Well, this is why the bill is drafted in the first place — to wipe out political frogs once and for all.
This will involve constitutional amendments which Wan Junaidi explained “is far better than enacting new laws which may be challenged in court”.
Among the amendments, he cited, were those involving Articles 48 and 54 with regard to disqualification of an MP and appointments to fill vacant senatorships in the Dewan Negara.
The minister stressed that there was no intention to introduce new laws to punish party-hoppers. Instead, a mechanism similar to a recall election may be put in place to give voters the right to decide the fate of those who party-hop.
I believe that the majority of lawmakers will support the anti-hopping law and I do not see why they could not be on the same page as all the parties have been asking for such a law for a long time.
Proponents have also argued that laws to discourage defections could possibly lead to more political stability.
Weighing in on the matter, SUPP secretary-general Datuk Sebastian Ting opined that the people in general were angry, disillusioned and fed-up with political frogs and the culture of party-hopping.
He said that when the anti-hopping law is passed in Parliament, a despicable, ugly and shameful political culture will become a thing of the past.
Yeah, one shameful culture less, please. Thank you.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
