The Sabah government has been urged to enact anti-hopping laws in view of the recent attempt to oust Chief Minister Hajiji Noor.
In a statement, Tungku assemblyperson Assafal P Alian said the law was necessary to bring political stability to the state.
"In Sabah, this law has yet to be implemented although the chief minister had pledged to do so since November 2022," he said.
"After what happened recently, as well as Sabah's history, I urge the Sabah government to enact anti-hopping laws."
Last Friday, Sabah BN withdrew support for Hajiji to be chief minister.
However, he was about to cling to his position because five out of 17 BN assemblypersons refused to toe the party line.
Hajiji was also helped by seven Pakatan Harapan assemblypersons who chose to support him.
Sabah has had a long history of the defection of its state lawmakers.
In 1994, Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) won the Sabah legislative assembly election with a two-seat majority in the legislative assembly.
The PBS government collapsed after two weeks due to defections.
In 2018, the Sabah election saw the emergence of two blocs of lawmakers with 29 seats each. BN initially managed to form the government after securing the support of two Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (Star) lawmakers.
However, a new Warisan-led government was formed just two days later on May 12, 2018, following defections by several BN lawmakers.
In 2020, the Warisan-led government was hit by another wave of defections, forcing then-chief minister Shafie Apdal to seek the dissolution of the state assembly.
In the 2020 election, Warisan won 23 seats and was not able to form the government. It is currently down to 19 seats due to defections.
Late last year, Putrajaya amended the Federal Constitution to introduce new laws to discourage MPs from switching parties.
However, the law only covered members of the Dewan Negara. Some states such as Perlis, Perak, Penang and Selangor have amended their laws to include the same anti-hopping provisions introduced in the Federal Constitution. - Mkini
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