FEBRUARY 25 — The idea of anti-party hopping is not new, it was mooted by the late Karpal Singh after PKR leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's failed bid to lure Barisan Nasional MPs to cross over to Pakatan Rakyat on September 16, 2008.
“A government must be formed on the support of the people and can't be formed by betrayal,” stressed the late Karpal Singh who was the Bukit Glugor MP. He was responding to former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's assertion that such anti-hopping law would infringe on the freedom of association. Karpal said he did not think elected representatives should have the freedom to betray their own constituents.
“It can't be freedom to cheat and create chaos in the country. It may not be a crime but it's morally wrong,” he said,
It will be hard to get two-thirds' majority for such a Bill to pass in the House of Representatives, but after the recent “Langkah Sheraton” event, I think the rakyat had enough with their elected representatives' shenanigans.
The “anti-party hopping” law is long overdue given that every time after a general election, the political frog leaping season will sure to begin. Both the ruling coalition and the opposition now have had their fair share of losing and gaining political frogs after an election.
We had the recent crossover of Umno MPs onto Bersatu after General Election 14. The 2009 Perak constitutional crisis, where three Pakatan Rakyat state legislators defected and hence caused the collapse of the state government. We had Ibrahim Ali, the king of frog of Malaysia leaping from one party to another in the past, just to name a few examples.
In the next general election, when and if it is called, Bersih and the rakyat should ask their potential representatives to pledge their support for such a bill before endorsing them. Since they are so hung up on the game of making statutory declarations, make them sign a SD and post it on their facebook, twitter or instagram accounts.
There should also be provisions to counter a scenario as what is happening now to the Azmin camp, being an independent bloc. They technically did not jump onto another political party, but their en-masse exit from PKR has caused enough damage to bring the Pakatan Harapan coalition down with them.
Provisions should be made in a way that any elected representative that stand behind a banner of a political party before the general election should stay with that banner/party for at least four years.
If they resign, their seat should be vacated. If they are not satisfied with the performance of their leader or their party for whatever reasons, they are then free to leave after the four years stint. In that case their divorce are less messy and less damaging to the government of the day.
Any responsible person would do the right thing to clean up the mess before and after a divorce, not causing more damage to the well-being of the parties involved during and after the period of their union.
There are certain quarters who are preparing themselves to go to the streets to demand for a fresh election because of the current mess, but that would only deal with the current “Langkah Sheraton” conundrum.
I think the anti-hopping legislation is needed to put an end to these unnecessary petty political manoeuvrings in the future. It will sure to happen again with different actors if there are no such laws in place to prevent it.
“There are no permanent enemies or permanent friends, but there must be permanent principles” Karpal Singh (1940-2014)
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
