Tightening anti-hopping law will not solve Sabah problem

In reference to the Malaysian Bar Council’s proposal that the government refine the anti-hopping law amid the political turmoil in Sabah after four MPs defected from the state Bersatu, you cannot end party-hopping here by tightening the law.

The Sabah state assembly should allow a vote of confidence to be tabled and settle it once and for all.

If Chief Minister Hajiji Noor survives, Warisan president Shafie Apdal and Sabah BN chairperson Bung Moktar Radin should accept the outcome and just form a shadow cabinet to check the state government for the remaining three years.

The drama has two episodes:

1. Coalition realignment - BN pulling out of the GRS-led coalition government and Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat (KDM) withdrawing its support.

2. Five assemblypersons pulling out of Umno.

Even if passed, the state-level anti-hopping law could not have stopped Umno from leaving the state government nor can it stop party-hopping.

First, Umno’s constitution must be amended to cause the five assemblypersons to vacate their seats for defying the party's position.

Second, even if their seats are vacated, they may still retain their seats in by-elections as long as they are in the winner's camp. In the 2020 Sabah state polls, two-thirds (11/17) of party-hoppers including James Ratib amongst the Umno five, succeeded in retaining their seats.

James Ratib

The party-hopping and coalition-hopping game are caused ultimately by the distorted function of assemblypersons (and MPs) as ATM machines in human form instead of lawmakers, because a state assembly sitting in two weeks a year doesn't really make a difference in public policy, as decisions are made only by ministers and top civil servants.

Patronage-craving voters don't care if their lawmakers switched sides as long as they can bring back more perks and money to the constituency.

Solutions

To stop this ridiculous drama, two things need to be done:

1. Ensuring, by law, all assemblypersons get the same amount of allocation - as a start - so that voters don't have to vote party-hoppers (or the government parties) to get development.

2. Empowering the state assembly so that lawmakers can make a real difference through their participation in the sitting so that voters are incentivised to choose parties or candidates, regardless if they would be in government or opposition.

Until we bring about these two reforms, governments would continue to be toppled in Sabah even though this would only distract economic recovery. - Mkini

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WONG CHIN HUAT is an Essex-trained political scientist at Sunway University. He is a professor at the university’s Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Asia. Mindful of humans’ self-interest motivation while pursuing a better world, he is a principled opportunist.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.