I still recall that as early as March 21 1978, Lim Kit Siang, the then-Kota Melaka MP, introduced in the Dewan Rakyat a private member’s bill seeking to prevent party hopping of elected representatives, but unfortunately it did not receive support. In the 1990s, the Sabah State Legislative Assembly also had inserted an anti-hopping provision into the state constitution, but unfortunately it was abolished in 1994 when Barisan Nasional came to power. As it can be seen, this struggle (to enact anti hopping provision into law) had been ongoing for the past 45 years!
Sadly, there were countless people who did not believe, had ridiculed, criticized and/or even mocked this struggle to enact anti-party-hopping laws. The latest example is in April this year when a party leader from a third political force (whom I shall not name, you know who you are) mocked Pakatan Harapan’s cooperation with the government and claimed that PH were deceived into signing a memorandum of cooperation with Barisan Nasional and yet failed to materialize any anti-party-hopping law as promised.
With the anti-party hopping bill being successfully passed in the Dewan Rakyat today, these vicious slanders have been proven to be false and that these people will have to eat their words.
The anti-party hopping bill had undergone many twists and turns since it was tabled for first reading in April this year and had undergone reviews and revisions by a Parliamentary Special Select Committee (PSSC) of the Dewan Rakyat. Finally, the bill today was passed in the Dewan Rakyat with 209 votes, which is more than a two-third vote majority required for a constitutional amendment.
I am proud to say that democracy in Malaysia has taken a big step forward!
The biggest goal of the implementation of the anti-party-hopping law is actually a political reset, to set things right and create a political field for fair competition for the next election.
I had stayed back in parliament till late last night to participate in the debate of the bill during the its second reading. During the debate, I had said that the agenda for reformation as outlined in the MoU on “Transformation and Political Stability” cannot end with the mere passing of a law prohibiting party hopping. In order to resolve the main root cause leading to party hopping in the first place, other laws must also be put in place, including that of a political financing provision for elected representatives.
The main reason leading to elected representatives being coerced or compelled to jump ship over the years is not actually due to policy differences but instead due to the unequal distribution of funds for constituencies under a one-party iron fist rule previously. The mechanism serves to deprive opposition elected representatives of funds so that the ruling party can say during election time: “You see, the opposition has not done much to improve your constituency,” and dangle development in the constituency like a carrot.
It is a fact that elected representatives from the opposition constituencies have been deprived of funding for development over the years. Members of Parliament who switch parties often gave the reason that they did so for “the sake of the people on the grounds” or that “the constituency needs to develop”. Allowing parliamentarians to freely switch party for such reason (depravation of funding) will lead to political instability that ends up triggering the downfall of a government.
In Malaysia’s parliamentary democracy, we use the “first pass the post” system to elect our representatives, and the person who obtains the support of the majority of the elected members will become the Prime Minister (Parliament) or the Chief Minister (state assembly). The reason why people hate the party hopping behavior of elected representatives is that it often causes the original winner of the election to become a loser in the legislature.
On the eve of the fall of a government, the sitting prime minister or chief minister will end up having to consider whether to dissolve the legislature and call for a fresh re-election. Several recent state elections in the country have been caused by party hopping (such as Sabah and Malacca), or political instability as a result of a slim majority after the party hopping (Johor).
Therefore, even with the passing of this anti hopping law, there must be other supporting mechanism to resolve or deal with the root issue of “constituencies need to develop”, maintaining the stability of the government in the legislature, and the certainty of holding elections.
In this regard, I am delighted to hear Prime Minister Ismail Sabri saying recently that he has more legislative matters to complete before dissolving Parliament, including the passing of a Political Funding Act and the separation of the Attorney-General into two positions according to their function (as prosecutor and as the government’s legal advisor).
In addition to these proposed reform agenda, I would also like to urge the Prime Minister to consider implementing the Equal Funding for Constituency Act, the Fix Parliamentary Term Act, and the establishment of a clear mechanism for the bringing of motion of confidences within Parliament.