MCA: Let voters, not party leaders, define 'political frogs'

 

Let the voters deal with "defected" lawmakers via a recall election instead of the political parties, MCA secretary-general Chong Sin Woon said today.

His statement came at a time when the government has been struggling to fine-tune the definition of party-hopping.

Chong (above) raised his concerns about the overly broad definition of party-hopping where a lawmaker who leaves the party will be considered to have defected regardless of form or reason.

"In other words, any lawmaker involuntarily expelled from the party will be defined as 'party-hopping' and an election will be held," he said in a statement.

In this case, he said the anti-hopping law may be used to pave way for a recall election when a party leader expels any member (lawmaker) he or she dislikes.

"This is undoubtedly a disguised way of granting more power to party leaders, resulting in lawmakers being controlled by their leaders.

"Even if this is for the sake of justice and public interest, the lawmaker may not go against the will of the leadership to prevent from being expelled from the party. The lawmaker will end up a yes-man of the party. This is a clear violation of the principle of democracy," the former senator said.

"But how are we able to curb the culture of party-hopping without compromising the freedom of association as enshrined in the Federal Constitution?

"In fact, it's simple. We just give the power to deal with the defector to members of the public, not the political parties.

"The lawmakers are elected by the voters and they should be accountable to the voters," Chong added.

Deferred again

The anti-hopping bill, which was scheduled to be tabled in a special Dewan Rakyat sitting on April 11, had been deferred again.

De facto Law Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the delay in the legislation occurred as lawmakers failed to arrive at an agreement on certain provisions in the bill.

The tabling of the bill has already been postponed once before. It was originally slated for its first reading in the Dewan Rakyat on March 24.

The anti-hopping law was the cornerstone of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Transformation and Political Stability signed between Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Pakatan Harapan.

Wan Junaidi wanted that the bill to be tabled and adopted before the next general election. - Mkini