GEORGE TOWN – The next general election will be a litmus test to ascertain if voters accept party-hopping practises among politicians.
Jelutong MP R.S.N. Rayer said whenever a politician defects or hops over to another party for no valid reason, the victims are the people.
Rayer, whose political mentor is late former DAP chairman Karpal Singh, said the people are ordinary working-class voters, who support a candidate based on the party he or she represents.
“Just imagine, they counted on this politician and he or she hops over to the other side.
“What respect does this politician have for the electorate?
“In the next election, the people shall decide on this phenomenon once and for all.”
He said DAP, as a party, has rejected defections, hence the party’s move to enact an anti-hopping law in Penang.
Such a law is supposed to stop politicians from jumping from their current political parties and toppling a legitimate government, as seen in February and March last year.
“This creates instability as policies become inconsistent and scare away investors as the political outcome will be uncertain for the immediate future, what more when it is worsened by a pandemic,” Rayer said.
“What can any government do within two or three years?
“People elect their choice of government because they want changes and reforms to the system so good governance can prevail. Change needs time to gain acceptance.”
Instead of waiting for a positive outcome, which may take more than two years, Rayer said the government was thrown out as a result of party-hopping, which, until today, does not make sense to the ordinary man on the street.
“It generates a public perception that politicians hope to enrich themselves.
“An election is about the people, not politicians. Let us see if the people tolerate such a thing.”
Rayer was commenting on the defection of two PKR Sarawak MPs – Julau’s Larry Sng and Tebrau’s Steven Choong – who left the party over the weekend before declaring themselves Perikatan Nasional government-friendly independents.
He said he knows both politicians as people with a reformist agenda, and is shocked as to why they have abandoned their struggle midway.
“But two wrongs do not make a right. They must own up to their constituents.
“They won with landslide majorities because the people voted for PKR, and now, they have betrayed that trust.” – The Vibes, March 3, 2021
