KOTA KINABALU – Sabah can produce a better anti-hopping bill at the state level, seeing that there are flaws in the constitutional amendments that were passed recently to prevent party-hopping, a DAP lawmaker said.
Kota Kinabalu MP Chan Foong Hin said that the federal amendment has several loopholes, including a representative’s status if they are sacked by their party.
“What happens if a representative purposely defies instructions of their party, and they get sacked by the party?” he said when met by reporters yesterday.
Chan said at the federal level, DAP is attempting to address this for the party by proposing that members who defy party decisions on important matters to be stripped of their membership.
However, he said Sabah has a chance to address these loopholes and produce a better anti-hopping bill.
Meanwhile, Kiulu representative Datuk Joniston Bangkuai of Parti Bersatu Sabah also said Sabah’s version of the anti-hopping bill should not be the same as the federal one.
He said while Sabah’s bill should prevent representatives from hopping parties, it should also prevent a party from leaving a coalition – if doing so would change the government.
Bangkuai, who was speaking as a panellist at a forum on voting here yesterday, said the incident in Sabah after the 14th general election in 2018 – whereby United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation (Upko) exited Barisan Nasional, and gave way for Warisan and its allies to form the Sabah government – should not be allowed.
Both Chan and Bangkuai also disagree with banning elected representatives who party-hop from re-contesting the same seat.
“It should all go back to the voters, voters should decide. Because sometimes, people vote based on the candidate, not the party. But how do we decide? Through the ballot box,” Chan said.
Bangkuai said that representatives who leave their parties should be allowed to recontest the seat to see if voters agree with his or her decision to change party.
“Why ban that person from contesting? Let the people decide if the person did the right thing or not,” he added. –The Vibes, August 14, 2022.
