PARLIAMENT | Lawmakers should not automatically lose their seats if they are sacked by their parties, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.
Muhyiddin Yassin (Perikatan Nasional-Pagoh) said under the law, even a convicted MP will not lose their seat until all legal avenues are exhausted.
However, if anti-hopping laws allow the fate of an MP to be decided by their party leadership, then it would be subject to abuse, the former prime minister argued.
The remedy, Muhyiddin (above) said, was to abolish Section 18C of the Societies Act 1966.
This section stipulates that any decision by the party cannot be challenged by any court on any grounds.
"(If the anti-hopping law) is tabled, I propose that we review Section 18C. We should allow an MP to seek justice in court before vacating a seat," he added.
Muhyiddin was debating a constitutional amendment bill to add Article 3A to the Federal Constitution, which will serve as an "enabling clause" for an eventual anti-hopping law.
Leave out independent MPs
Larry Sng (PBM-Julau) told the Dewan Rakyat that MPs who win their seat as independents should not be subjected to anti-hopping laws.
Sng said if such laws are used to prevent an independent from joining a party mid-term, then it would be a violation of constitutional rights to freedom of association.
"They should be exempted because the mandate was from the people. They won on their own credibility, not from a party. They did not use a party logo, slogan or its narrative, and did not receive funding from the party," he added.
Sng won the Julau seat as an independent candidate. He later joined PKR and then Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM).
He further said that in 2018, there were three MPs who won their seats as independents and their rights to join a political party should be protected.
"The law is not here to protect any party but the mandate of the people," he added.
Parties using others’ logo
Sng urged Putrajaya to consider how the anti-hopping law will take into account MPs who won their seats on a party ticket other than their own.
"During the last general election, there were negotiations between parties to use the party logo (of others) during the polls.
"What is the status of the candidates who won on the ticket of another party?" he asked.
In 2018, candidates from Bersatu, DAP and Amanah all used the PKR logo for the general election as their coalition was not formally registered yet.
What if it's a hung Parliament?
Steven Choong (PBM-Tebrau) proposed that Article 54(1) of the Federal Constitution be amended as well because it prevents a vacancy in the Dewan Rakyat from being held if the vacancy occurred less than two years before Parliament was to be dissolved.
Choong argued that this would render any anti-hopping law ineffective.
He also asked whether such a law would get in the way of new coalition-building in the event of a "hung Parliament", where no party or coalition can form a government.
"Should we ask a few MPs to vacate their seats to pave way for a by-election to resolve a 'hung Parliament'? What if the by-elections still cause a 'hung Parliament'?" he asked.
Another proposal from Choong was to jettison the "first-past-the-post" system used for Malaysian elections, which he argued would resolve problems on the legitimacy of the government and defections. - Mkini
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