KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 28 — A group calling itself SEDAR Malaysia today launched a petition drive demanding Putrajaya enact a law to prevent party hopping.

The group behind the YouTube political satire show Sembang Sedar said it wants both federal and state governments to create a Bill to compel representatives who defect to vacate their seat and recontest.

“This is so the representatives gain a fresh mandate from voters who elected them based on their party when they contested initially,” the petition read.

“The law will not block them from joining a new party.”

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Group chairman Nazrin Norani said they have collected up to 2,000 signatures so far.

The petition was also submitted to 200 MPs and Nazrin said the group would reveal which MPs have replied to it.

“We’ll show who is pro or against (party hopping),” Nazrin said.

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SEDAR was only established in July and Nazrin said as a newcomer it conceded that getting traction for its campaign may be tough.

Comprising “concerned citizens” including members of political parties from both sides of the divide, the group said they were prompted to act out of frustration with the status quo.

“When we are politically unstable the economy is affected,” Nazrin said.

“And from the feedback we gathered, people are tired and bored of the constant politicking, especially with the defections.”

The past two months has seen more than 20 Umno MPs defecting either to join or to become pro-Pakatan Harapan, but the move has caused the coalition to implode as some factions are opposed to the idea.

Despite the discord, there is speculation that there will be more defections in the near future.