KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 28 — Party hopping must stop and must be outlawed, DAP’s Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh said today following the defection of two PKR federal lawmakers to Perikatan Nasional (PN).
His statement came after Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin confirmed the defection of Julau MP Larry Sng and Tebrau MP Steven Choong to PN.
A call that he often makes, Ramkarpal said party hopping is anathema to any democracy as it can destabilise any government, more so a fragile one like the current PN government.
“Julau MP Larry Sng and Tebrau MP Steven Choong have left PKR and declared their support for PN.
“Khairuddin A Rahim, Faizul Amri Adnan and Muhamad Said Jonit from Amanah jumped ship to PKR.
“It makes no difference that the latter three are still in Pakatan Harapan (PH), neither does it make a difference that the former two have switched alliances,” he said in a statement this evening.
He further questioned if both Julau and Tebrau constituents would ever take their MPs seriously, since the two have abandoned the very principles they preached publicly in the last general elections.
“An amusing argument was raised justifying party hopping in this instance — that government funds are needed to serve the constituency and such funds are not available if one is in the Opposition.
“This is laughable,” he said.
He explained his views as very few in PH expected to be in government after the 14th general election.
In other words, Ramkarpal said these representatives expected the real possibility of being in the Opposition after GE14 without government funds for their respective constituencies, himself included.
“It has never been about funds for the constituency but more about the cause of creating a better Malaysia.
“Any government of the day that proposes this by way of a constitutional amendment in Parliament will certainly have my vote.
“Else, we will never hear the end of people like Larry Sng and Steven Choong and those of their ilk,” he added.
According to news reports, Sng and Choong had left PH and decided to support Muhyiddin as independents after seeing how the PN government was run.
It was also reported that both MPs were also unhappy with the way PKR was being run and felt that they could serve their constituents better by supporting Muhyiddin.
Just two weeks ago, Choong had publicly dismissed that he was stepping over to PN, citing his disinterest in positions offered by PN.
