KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 — The problem of elected representatives defecting would not have happened if political parties rejected those who did so, Parti Amanah Negara communications director Khalid Samad claimed today.
Khalid used the example of the current Perikatan Nasional (PN) administration to make his point, arguing that lawmakers would not have been able to defect from Pakatan Harapan if parties like Umno and PAS did not accept them.
“How to prevent party-hopping, I think the voters must teach the candidates a lesson, make sure none of those who hop this time around will win any of the seats in coming elections.
“Number two, the other parties must also have the moral strength to reject any form of cooperation with the party-hoppers.
“If Muhyiddin and Azmin left Pakatan Harapan but if Umno, PAS and the rest had respected the public’s mandate, the people’s mandate, they wouldn’t have formed a government with the people who hopped, and if nobody is willing to cooperate with them in order to form a new government, they wouldn’t have hopped. But if you are willing to do that, of course you will allow for that,” he said while speaking this morning at the Malaysia Democracy Forum, referring to Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Datuk Seri Azmin Ali.
Khalid said that anti-hopping laws would be very relevant for Malaysia, as he backed the idea of having re-elections when lawmakers choose to leave the political parties that they were elected under during elections.
Khalid said re-elections could allow those who leave their political parties due to principles to present their case to voters, adding that holding fresh elections “would have been a deterrent for those who jump for their own personal benefit”.
Earlier in the same forum, Khalid said that the “incessant problem of party-hopping”, he described as a “new pandemic in Malaysia”, involved people who change sides and forget what they promised, and shared his view that this has nothing to do with political parties but were more about the integrity of such individuals.
Khalid claimed that there were already factions or individuals within Pakatan Harapan — from when the coalition first took over as government — that did not want to stay in the coalition and had their own agenda.
“In general, everyone puts the blame on Azmin Ali having relations with Umno, PAS right from day one. Obviously when Pakatan Harapan was formed, he himself was against the idea, and during the launch of Pakatan Harapan, when we named Tun Mahathir as candidate for the prime ministership, he walked out of the convention in protest, because he did not agree to Pakatan Harapan. He wanted Pakatan Rakyat where the relationship between PKR and PAS would be further sustained and maintained and used for the 14th election,” he said.
Khalid said the existence of political parties in itself is not an issue, but the problem lies with individuals who are “willing or able to say one thing in front of you and do something else behind you”.
He added that the Malaysian public has been given the opportunity to realise for themselves the importance of finding individuals with integrity.
“In terms of the general mandate, what we can see is nobody has questioned or refuted the general public, as far as the Malaysian voters are concerned, they wanted a Pakatan Harapan government. And what should have been done by political parties who are responsible and respect the mandate of the public and voters is not to support the turncoats and to enable them to form a government.
“So while the general public to a large extent has put much of the blame on Azmin and Muhyiddin as being the people who jumped ship, I cannot but put equal blame on the political parties who supported these turncoats,” he said.
He further claimed that parties such as Umno are “equally responsible” for the formation of a government which does not represent the mandate of the Malaysian public, and for the existence of an allegedly weak government as a coalition based on numbers and not on a manifesto and without any common agenda except to form a government and denying PH to be the government.
“So as far as what I can see, we do not know or see any alternatives to participating in general elections, but what is important is to put forward candidates who have integrity, who will respect the decision. And equally so, this must also be shown by all the political parties, once they have lost the elections, they are the opposition, they should respect the decision of Malaysian voters,” he added.
As for whether recall elections are the most effective instrument to penalise elected lawmakers who are party-hoppers, Khalid said: “I think yes, that’s the way to go for anybody who wants to leave the party and has a different agenda during the election, they should resign.
“Then they should recontest the seat with a new manifesto explaining to the general public and voters, what they now believe in and what they want to do and if they can win elections again on this new agenda, then obviously they have the moral right to say that I represent my voters, I represent the people within my constituency.
“But for as long as they do not do that, it’s obvious they have actually gone against what they have promised and voters will definitely punish them in the next general election,” he added.
He added that candidates to be put forward in the next general election should be those who are committed to the party agenda, who will perform and hold on to their promises, while also saying that the next general election will be a campaign against party hoppers and political traitors and those who would not be able to form a government without Umno and PAS.
