[UPDATED] Dewan Rakyat to debate anti-hopping law at month’s end

KUALA LUMPUR – If agendas are panned out accordingly, the anti-party hopping law will be gazetted and enforced in less than two months’ time, said Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar. 

According to the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, the much-awaited bill is expected to be laid before the Dewan Rakyat on July 18 when the lower house reconvenes. 

Following this, Wan Junaidi said the ministry’s Legal Affairs Division, together with the Attorney-General’s Chambers, will engage with government and opposition MPs on July 25 and 26 respectively before the bill is debated the following two days. 

Subsequently, he said an engagement session will be held with Dewan Negara senators on August 8, while the first and second readings in the upper house will be done on August 9 and 10 respectively. 

“After getting the approvals of both houses, the bill will be presented before the Yang di-Pertuan Agong under Article 66 of the constitution between August 11 and 26 to be consented to. 

“The bill is expected to be gazetted between August 29 and September 2, 2022,” he said in a statement today.

This comes following the finalisation of the draft bill today by the parliamentary special select committee (PSSC) overseeing the matter. 

Wan Junaidi said the committee has also responded to the questions raised by several ministers previously, with the explanations presented in cabinet this morning. 

Yesterday, Pengerang MP Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said had said that the PSSC deliberating on the anti-hopping law has wrapped up its final meeting and is tipped for debating in Parliament soon. 

“Another step closer to abolishing Frogs Colony (sic) and towards dignified politics in Malaysia,” she had posted. 

The original bill to outlaw party hopping was first tabled in the Dewan Rakyat on April 11, before the house agreed to refer it to the PSSC for further deliberation prior to putting it up for vote. 

The government had initially planned to pass the law then, but was forced to postpone it after resistance from certain quarters in the federal cabinet, who disagreed with the current definition of party-hopping.

Other than Wan Junaidi and Azalina, other government-friendly MPs in the committee are Umno's Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz (Padang Rengas); Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin (Larut) from Bersatu; Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan (Kota Baru) of PAS; and Lukanisman Awang Sauni (Sibuti) of Gabungan Parti Sarawak.

Representatives from the opposition include DAP’s Gobind Singh Deo (Puchong), PKR’s Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail (Kulim-Bandar Baharu), Amanah’s Mohamed Hanipa Maidin (Sepang), Upko president Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau (Tuaran), and Warisan deputy president Datuk Darell Leiking (Penampang). – The Vibes, July 13, 2022