Pakatan will take it to the streets if anti-party hopping law not implemented, says Mat Sabu

KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 ― Pakatan Harapan (PH) is ready to take it to the streets if the anti-party hopping Bill is not tabled and passed within this Parliament sitting.

Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) Kota Raja MP Mohamad Sabu said his friends in the party are ready to go to the streets since they are ignored when they speak in Parliament regarding the matter.

“The anti-party hopping Bill needs to be expedited, otherwise how can we practise Parliament democracy?

“If the anti-party hopping Bill is not tabled and passed this Parliament sitting, my friends from the party and myself will bring this to the streets, since we seem to be ignored when we are speak through Parliament,”  he told the Dewan Rakyat today during his turn to debate on the Supplementary Supply Bill (2021) 2022.

Mohamad, also known as Mat Sabu, said this in relation to the country's current political instability, claiming that it was the Sheraton Move which sparked this instability.

In his debate speech, Mat Sabu said it was after the Sheraton Move when the public started to lose their trust in democracy, which resulted in decreasing number of voters at each election which took place later in Sabah, Melaka and Johor.

He also brought this matter up in relation to how much the government had forked out to pay for the three “forced” state elections.

“Sabah state election spent RM130 million, Melaka state election spent RM40 million and Johor state election spent RM96 million, when during the 14th general election, Johor only used RM35 million and Melaka used RM13 million.

“This shows that the ‘forced’ elections and on top of that with the presence of Covid-19 has taken up a lot of the government’s expenditure.

“This is due to the Sheraton Move, and they have betrayed Parliament democracy,” he said.

He also stressed that this a matter of urgency, citing the presence of election watchdog Bersih 2.0 at Parliament today to urge the government to implement the anti-party hopping law.

“If you don’t want to listen to us, we will be in darkness and Parliament democracy will not have the same respect it used to have.

“Pass this Bill immediately, this is our last warning,” he said.

Umno's Padang Rengas MP Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz who also stood up to debate on the Bill has supported Mohamad's call, similarly indicating urgency.

“We cannot jump around, it is embarrassing.

“I urge the government to please table the Bill, and if we need to amend it, it can be done later,” said Nazri.

Nazri however defended his party and coalition saying that it was not their fault that the country is facing political instability.

He had in return hurled the blame back to PH, saying that it was the infighting within the Opposition coalition which caused the country’s political instability.

“Previously, YB Kota Raja supported me, so I support him back, but only 80 per cent, because in his speech, he said the instability was caused by Perikatan Nasional (PN) and Barisan Nasional (BN).

“But we know the instability was due to PH’s infighting, no agreement, not fulfilling their promise and said they wanted to change the prime minister.

“Between PN and BN, I won’t deny that there are fighting, it exists, but not to the extent that it caused the fall of the government.

“The one who caused this was them (PH), don’t put 100 per cent of the blame on us” Nazri said.

He added that Umno-BN was ready to be the Opposition for five years, but it was due to PH’s misunderstandings that led to the political instability.

“We cannot give any more excuses as to why we cannot implement it because for me, as I understand, there are some differing views among the Cabinet ministers regarding this Bill.

“But that is not important, what is important now is to table and pass the Bill, in whatever form it is, install it first. 

“We have to bring it into the Dewan Rakyat and if there are weaknesses we can tweak and amend it later at the committee stage,” he said.

Any unfairness in the Bill can be discussed later, he said, insisting that the Bill be tabled and debated among the MPs.

“I’m sure that 100 per cent will support this Bill, unless they are the ‘frogs’ but those are minorities, this is for the majority.

“For me the government doesn’t need to think for so long, we have the MoU (memorandum of understanding) with the Opposition, and one of the articles is to show our sincerity by tabling the anti-party hopping Bill right now.

“If we cannot make it in time (this sitting) we can have a special sitting where I believe many of us want to debate and voice our opinions regarding this Bill,” he said indicating his full support as long the Bill is tabled and passed.

On Sunday, DAP’s Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng said the tabling of the Constitutional Amendment Bill for First Reading in Parliament needed clarification.

Lim said there seemed to be some confusion on the government’s intention to amend the Constitution and a statement made by Parliament and Law minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.

Under the MoU, the government is required to hold prior discussions with the Opposition parties before making any amendments to the Constitution.

Lim said PH was unaware of the tabling of the amendment Bill and has sought for clarification regarding the contents of the amendment.