Bung backs law against party-hopping 'like frogs and monkeys'

PARLIAMENT | Fresh from being hit by a wave of defections, a Sabah BN lawmaker has voiced support for the enactment of an anti-hopping law.

Bung Moktar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan) alluded to the recent defections of Sabah BN lawmakers to Bersatu, and said he concurred with Ahmad Maslan's (BN-Pontian) suggestion for legislation to prevent such moves.

"I agree with the suggestion for Parliament to enact an anti-hopping law, so there will be no more 'hopping' here and there, like frogs, like monkeys, like apes," he told the Dewan Rakyat today.

Bung further described defecting lawmakers as having no integrity and no strength in their struggle.

"We can sell and trade many things, but my parents taught me never to sell my integrity."

'Sabah Umno unfazed'

However, Bung insisted that Sabah Umno is unfazed by the latest round of defections, and even "welcomed" the move.

"We believe that Sabah Umno supporters will not hop as well. Mark my words, in the next general election, Umno will recapture Sabah," he stressed.

In last year's general election, BN lost Sabah to Pakatan Harapan ally Warisan, which is led by former Umno vice-president Mohd Shafie Apdal.

Bersatu chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad officially accepted four MPs, two senators and two state assemblypersons from Sabah Umno into his party last week.

This means that Bersatu now has 26 MPs, bringing Harapan's numbers in the Dewan Rakyat up to 129.

BN had initially won 79 seats during GE14, but the number has now been whittled downto 41 – either to the ruling coalition’s bench or another section of the opposition bench. - Mkini