KUALA LUMPUR – Several Pakatan Harapan (PH) lawmakers have questioned the government’s sudden change of plan to enact a piece of legislation to outlaw party-hopping, after previously agreeing to only make amendments to the federal constitution.
One of them told the Dewan Rakyat that the change came about last week, which saw the government going with the introduction of a new standalone law.
The constitution will now see only a couple of amendments made – one to Article 10 to include an enabling clause to allow for an anti-hopping act to be enacted in the future, and another to abolish Article 48(6).
The latter stipulates that a person who resigns from the lower House shall be disqualified from being an MP for a period of five years, a provision many lawmakers are opposing.
Ramkarpal Singh (Bukit Gelugor-PH), who is part of the government-PH steering committee deliberating the anti-hopping bill, expressed his bewilderment at the decision to introduce a standalone federal law.
He said this is considering the fact that it would have been sufficient for the provisions to be included in the federal constitution by way of an amendment.
“Prior to last Wednesday, we know that the government has agreed that amendments be made to the constitution,” said the DAP lawmaker when debating the proposed constitutional amendment today.
“So, I am baffled as to why we need a federal law for this. This is important because we are dealing with fundamental liberties.”
Ramkarpal argued that it would be inappropriate to allow legislation concerning the people’s fundamental liberties to be restricted to the enactment of a law that would only require a simple majority support of the Dewan Rakyat, rather than the two-thirds needed for a constitutional amendment.
Sivarasa Rasiah (Sg Buloh-PH) also questioned why the initial plan of only amending the constitution was substituted with the need for a federal law, urging the government to stick to the original approach.
“This was started by the government, but now suddenly it is changing its stand.”
He said by sticking with the original plan, this will eliminate concerns pertaining to the current proposal to amend Article 10 of the constitution to pave the way for the tabling of a future anti-hopping law.
The amendment has already raised concerns of potential abuse, with many fearing that its broad definition could potentially grant the government broad powers to implement provisions to remove elected representatives on a whim.
Meanwhile, Wong Kah Woh (Ipoh Timur-PH) said in the multiple engagement sessions held by the government with MPs, lawmakers were informed that the anti-hopping law would only require amendments to be made to Article 48 of the constitution, by elaborating how a lawmaker may lose qualification.
“As a law practitioner, I believe this amendment is the best option,” he said in his debate today. – The Vibes, April 11, 2022
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