Govt in power by defections can lose power the same way, says Malaysian Bar

 

A government that is sustained in power by party-hopping Members of Parliament may also lose power by party-hopping, the Malaysian Bar said in repeating its call for enactment of an anti-hopping law.

Malaysian Bar president AG Kalidas (above) said in a statement issued last night that there is a growing urgency to restrict an elected lawmaker's ability from switching sides, in light of the latest round of defections and rumours.

"Unexplained defections and switching of political allegiances by elected representatives have greatly undermined the rakyat’s confidence in the political process, and if it goes on unchecked, will lead to voter apathy," Kalidas said.

"Switching parties or political allegiance after being voted in on a particular platform — depending on the particular circumstances of the case — could be viewed as a betrayal of the decision of the voters.

"This is clearly an area where the power granted to Parliament by the Federal Constitution should be invoked," he added.

Since the last 14th general election in 2018, defections of elected lawmakers to form the new Pakatan Nasional (PN) coalition have led to the fall of the Pakatan Harapan federal government and several Harapan state administrations.

Last month, Julau MP Larry Sng and Tebrau MP Steven Choong, left PKR to be Independent MPs aligned to PN under Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

This was followed by the departure of Kuala Langat MP Dr Xavier Jeyakumar from PKR, who claimed his move was necessary to avoid snap polls in times of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Commenting further, Kalidas said the Malaysian Bar maintained its stand that there is no prohibition for Parliament to legislate anti-hopping laws at the federal level.

'Resolve this for the good of Malaysian democracy'

At the same time, he said, remedies to the issue of party-hopping might require a constitutional amendment, in particular the removal of the disqualification provision in Article 48(6).

This would be in order to allow an MP to resign and re-contest his or her seat under a different political party, and to allow voters to decide on the party change.

"The Malaysian Bar calls upon the government and Members of Parliament to resolve this issue for the good of Malaysian democracy, notwithstanding any immediate benefit that one side or the other may enjoy by the perpetuation of this practice," Kalidas said.

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has, since last year, questioned the legitimacy of the PN government and insisted that he had secured a "strong and formidable" majority to lead a new government that included BN backbenchers.

Following the latest departures from PKR, Anwar on Wednesday maintained that he still has "adequate" support, and Muhyiddin should prove PN's position by convening a Parliament sitting, which has been suspended under the emergency proclamation. - Mkini