APRIL 10 — It is reported that the special parliamentary sitting on Monday will see the introduction of a constitutional amendment that will allow laws against party hopping to be enforced in the country.
The proposed Constitution (Amendment)(No.3) Act 2022 Bill has yet to be published on the official portal of Parliament. However, copies of the Bill were reportedly distributed to Members of Parliament (MPS) on Thursday.
A copy of the Bill can be sighted on Subang MP Wong Chen’s Facebook.
PAS secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan has also made reference to the Bill.
Takiyuddin, who is also Energy and Natural Resources Minister, said that PAS will give its full support to the Bill.
It looks like the Bill was not meant for the MPs’ eyes only.
The proposed constitutional amendment seeks to amend Article 10 of the Federal Constitution and introduce a new Clause (3A), which reads as follow:
“Notwithstanding paragraph (c) of Clause (2) and Clause (3) restrictions on the right to form associations conferred by paragraph (c) of Clause (1) relating to membership in a political party of members of the House of Representatives and members of the State Legislative Assembly may also be imposed by federal law.”
It looks like the concerns raised by Wong Chen, among others, that the proposed clause is wide is valid.
The proposed restrictions on the constitutional right to freedom of association which may be imposed by federal law looks dangerously wide to include anything relating to membership in a political party. These will allow laws beyond stopping party hopping.
It will be regressive.
Any constitutional amendment to enable a federal anti-party hopping law should be considered under Chapter 4 (on Federal Legislature).
This can either be a new Article 49A, as has earlier been reported in the media, or a new clause under Article 48 (on Disqualification for membership of Parliament).
Such clause can provide that notwithstanding paragraph (c) of Clause (1) and Clause (3) of Article 10, Parliament may by law disqualify a member of the House of Representatives and a member of the State Legislative Assembly if he ceases to be, other than by way of expulsion, a member of, or resigns from, the political party for which he stood in the election.
Or something to that effect.
That should be the constitutional enabler to a federal law on party hopping, instead of the wide powers in the proposed Clause (3A) of Article 10.
*This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
