Beat party-hopping by solving political financing, says think tank

 

Last month, the Dewan Rakyat postponed a special sitting on a proposed law to prevent MPs and state assembly members from switching sides after being elected. (Bernama pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: Political financing must be regulated to address the root cause of party-hopping, says a think tank.

Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) CEO Tricia Yeoh said that as long as political financing remained unregulated, the highly anticipated anti-hopping law would only be “treating the symptoms and not the cause” of party defections.

“One of the fundamental reasons politicians give for switching parties is to get more funding to develop their constituencies,” said Yeoh at a conference on the proposed anti-hopping law.

It has previously been speculated that other reasons for politicians to jump ship could be because they had been “bought over” or intimidated into joining through threats of prosecution or harassment by enforcement agencies.

Yeoh said proper constituency allocations by the state may stop politicians from switching sides due to their wish to see to the needs of their constituents.

She said if a basic sum is allotted to elected representatives, especially opposition members, to run their operations, it would also prevent them getting into a potentially compromising relationship with the private sector.

(From left) Simraat Kaur of Bait Al Amanah, Philip Koh, Tricia Yeoh and Undi18 co-founder Qyira Yusri at a conference on the anti-hopping law held in Kuala Lumpur today.

Philip Koh, adjunct professor at Universiti Malaya, said that corporate law generally prohibited companies from making political donations.

“Under the Companies Act, corporate entities can only make donations for ‘patriotic purposes’, which does not include funding political parties,” said Koh.

In April, the Pakatan Harapan presidential council said the anti-hopping bill would be tabled and passed in Parliament before the end of May.

It said the decision on the matter was reached after discussions with Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

The enactment of the anti-hopping bill was one of the key conditions for the political understanding between Ismail’s government and the opposition bloc.

A bipartisan parliamentary select committee is drafting the anti-hopping law and a special parliamentary sitting would be held to discuss it and the necessary amendments to the Federal Constitution. - FMT