PUTATAN – Warisan leader Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal plans to submit a private member’s bill to refine the anti-party hopping law in the upcoming state assembly sittings.
The Senallang assemblyman said he had noticed a flaw in the anti-party hopping law when the state was hit by a political crisis last January, having learned from the Sheraton Move as well.
“Bersatu and Umno were in the previous state government (the GRS-BN state government).
“But when Umno withdrew their cooperation. GRS was only left with 18 assemblymen.
“They have lost the majority. By right they (GRS) no longer have the mandate.
“People say we practise democracy. But where is the democracy there? Even the party (GRS) did not contest in the state election (in 2020),” he said after a gathering with the Putatan Warisan division here last night.
GRS was an informal alliance comprising Perikatan Nasional (PN) and Barisan Nasional (BN), with PBS, a friendly party in the 2020 Sabah election. It was officially registered as a political entity on March 11, last year. The alliance contested under their respective PN logo and BN logo in the Sabah election, and together captured the state government in the snap election, two years earlier.
Towards this end, Shafie also questioned Datuk Seri Hajiji Mohd Noor, who is GRS chairman, about the need for him to take over Gagasan Rakyat after leaving PN.
He said he had called out GRS as a coalition, and not a political party, but no quarters took heed of the matter.
Shafie cited Article 6(7) of the Sabah constitution that sets a political party that won a majority of the elected seats and the leader of a such political party, and elected member, of the legislative assembly as part of the requirements to be appointed as chief minister, to which he claimed Hajiji do not meet any of them.
He said this was unlike the outcome of the federal election last year where the Yang di-Pertuan Agong allowed Pakatan Harapan leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who despite not winning a two-thirds majority, to lead and formed the unity federal government, after capturing 82 parliamentary seats, more than rival PN chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who captured 74 seats.
Still, Shafie said Warisan was dealt a huge blow from the absence of the anti-party hopping law in Sabah, where many Warisan assemblymen defected to keep GRS in power by the numbers of supporting lawmakers.
He noted Warisan used to have 23 assemblymen but is now left with only 14. He added even court actions against party turncoats did not yield the expected results.
Shafie said he has a few suggestions on how to address the gaps in the anti-party hopping law, but refused to divulge them, adding that “democracy” in Malaysia will continue to be tainted if they are not resolved.
He also said the refinements will also take a look into matters such as the party elected representatives who refused to toe the line with the party decision as to what happened to Sabah Umno during the crisis in January, where several leaders decided to oppose the state leader in ending their cooperation with GRS.
To date, Hajiji has not set any timeline as to when Sabah will adopt the anti-party hopping law. – The Vibes, March 20, 2023
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