KOTA KINABALU – When it comes to exercising their democratic right to shift political alliances, few can object that Sabah politicians do it best.
Those familiar with its history would agree that the “acrobatics” performed hot on the heels of the 1994 state election added weight to a seemingly evergreen jest of Sabah’s political frogs.
Incumbent party, Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), won the snap election on February 19 but after 26 days, president Joseph Pairin Kitingan was forced to resign as chief minister after losing the majority in the state assembly.
At the time of Pairin’s resignation on March 17, 1994, PBS lost 20 of the 25 state seats that it won, triggering the fall of the party.
Many described Pairin’s decision to step down as “the most gentlemanly thing to do”.
Those left, formed new parties: PBRS, Akar, SAPP and PDS (later known as Upko) – all of which joined Barisan Nasional (BN), allowing the coalition to form a new state government.
Pairin’s successor was Umno’s Sakaran Dandai who was then succeeded by (now Datuk Seri) Salleh Said Keruak in December 1994 – 10 months after the controversial party-hopping episodes.
This was not the only time party-hopping had significantly affected the political dynamics of Sabah.
Of frogs and long-drawn Shafie-Musa feud
In the 2018 general election, the 29-29 seats deadlock between BN and Parti Warisan Sabah – that resulted in a constitutional crisis that lasted for five days – was broken after a convoluted episode of party-hopping.
A case in point was Upko’s defection from BN. At first, two of the five of its assemblymen jumped ship to Warisan but afterwards, Upko uprooted itself from BN and pledged allegiance to Warisan.
Eventually, the tally of BN defectors to Warisan and other parties in the then-ruling coalition ballooned to 29, excluding the four who became independents.
The Warisan-led government, however, was short-lived.
Two years after GE in 2018, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal was backed into a corner by his predecessor, Tan Sri Musa Aman, who claimed, on July 29, to have the simple majority needed to wrest the top job.
Musa claimed to have 32 assemblymen on his side – 33, including him. The last man to come to Musa’s side was Kemabong’s Jamawi Jaafar, who was a former Umno man turned Warisan and now uncertain.
And Shafie, a day after, responded by advising the head of state Tun Juhar Mahiruddin to dissolve the state assembly, triggering an election.
Party-hopping not a crime
The political fluidity in Sabah was – still is – able to thrive simply because Malaysia has no laws against party-hopping, despite the hue and cry.
“It is unconstitutional to have one,” said Sabah Law Society president Roger Chin Ken Fong on anti-party-hopping laws.
In a landmark verdict in 1992, the then-Supreme Court (now renamed to Federal Court) concluded in the case of the Kelantan assembly versus Nordin Salleh – an assemblyman who defected from Semangat 46 to Umno and was thus ordered to vacate his state seat – that anti-hopping laws are invalid.
This was so because such a law had gone against Article 10(1) of the Federal Constitution which guarantees the freedom of association.
“But assuming that the country was to have such a law; one that would require elected
representatives to vacate their seats upon switching sides then it might be a deterrent as there will be no guarantee that they might win a re-election,” said Chin.
However, there were those who believed that the right and freedom to switch sides – in spite of its penchant for abuse – was a much-needed trump card to prevent leaders with dictatorial streaks from becoming too powerful.
“Anti-hopping laws is the law of those who are ignorant of democracy and scared of losing numbers,” said lawyer Fatihah Jamhari.
“Democracy dictates all representatives must carry the voice of their representation. We cannot have any law that restricts any representatives from deciding based on their conscience.” – The Vibes, September 25, 2020
