DEWAN Negara president Senator Tan Sri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar wants the anti-hopping law to be reviewed and strengthened in a bid to overcome the current loopholes in the act.Junaidi said that it was important to ensure the country’s political stability in the future due to the actions of MPs transferring support from one grouping to another.From the start, the tabling of the anti-hopping bill brought to Parliament was done to get support from the majority of parliamentarians. It had weaknesses and was less effective in dealing with party jumping or the transfer of support.“The bill passed in Parliament is a compromise to get support in the Dewan Rakyat in 2022 and get the approval of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.“There are two or three things that we should have included that were not because of the objections of some parties in the government (then PN) as a compromise,” he told reporters after the Tokoh Talk programme at the office of the National Council of Professors (MPN), Kajang yesterday (Jan 19).The Anti-Party Hopping Act was approved unanimously in the Dewan Rakyat on July 28, 2022, through the amendment of Article 10(1)(c) of the Federal Constitution. 209 MPs voted for the bill while 11 were absent.It was part of the deal signed between the government and the opposition Pakatan Harapan (PH) that led to a MOU (memorandum of understanding) between the then-prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and PH.The government recently stated that it averted a ‘Dubai Move’ that was intended to bring down the Madani government headed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.Moreover, social media networks are still abuzz with talks of an imminent change of government this month, with the date of Jan 18 given as the fatal date for Anwar, however, nothing has happened until now. – Jan 20, 2023
Main photo credit: Sarawak Voice
