PAS pledges full support for constitutional amendments on anti-hopping

KUALA LUMPUR – PAS will give its full support to the Constitution (Amendment) Bill (No. 3) 2022, which will be tabled at a special sitting of the Dewan Rakyat on Monday.

PAS secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan said the bill is aimed at amending the federal constitution, especially Article 10(3) in relation to Article 10(1)(c) on freedom of association. 

“Based on the case of Kelantan State Legislative Assembly vs Nordin Salleh & Anor, which was decided by the Supreme Court on April 3, 1992, any provision of law or state constitution relating to anti-party hopping will be considered ultra vires the federal constitution as long as Article 10 is not amended to enable an anti-party hopping act to be formulated and approved by Parliament.

“Therefore, based on this policy, the cabinet at its meeting on April 6, 2022 decided that the special Parliament sitting scheduled for April 11, 2022 should be held to amend Article 10 to enable an act relating to party hopping to be tabled and approved by Parliament at another sitting,” he said.

Takiyuddin, who is the energy and natural resources minister, said the cabinet also unanimously agreed that matters related to party-hopping and its legal implications be incorporated in a comprehensive and detailed manner in a special act of Parliament.

“This act should include precise definitions, clear examples, and concrete explanations to avoid any lacuna, abuse of power, and likelihood of bias that may cause affected parties to challenge it in court,” he added.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar had said earlier that the anti-party hopping bill would not be tabled in the special sitting of the Dewan Rakyat on Monday.

However, Wan Junaidi, in a statement issued on Thursday together with the joint chairman of the steering committee on transformation and political stability, Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, said the special sitting would still be held to table and debate the Constitution (Amendment) Bill (No. 3) 2022.

The bill on anti-party hopping will be tabled, debated, and approved at another special sitting of Parliament to be fixed later. – Bernama, April 9, 2022