SANDAKAN – Sabah Bersatu’s sole elected representative Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee has criticised Gagasan Rakyat for delaying the tabling of the anti-hopping bill at the state assembly, saying that they are not sincere in going against party hopping.
He said the Sabah government led by Datuk Seri Hajiji Mohd Noor is now waiting until he has a two-thirds majority before tabling the anti-hopping bill when it becomes unnecessary.
“The tabling of the federal level anti-hopping law in Parliament (when PN was governing) did not wait until we had two-thirds support, and all MPs – the government and opposition – voted for it.
“Why does the Sabah government have to wait?
“If they are waiting until they have two-thirds support, then it means that they are now inviting people to hop into their party, and will table the anti-hopping bill when they have a two-thirds majority,” he said.
The Bersatu vice-president and Sabah Bersatu chief said this during a breaking-of-fast programme with the Libaran Bersatu division at Pavillion Hotel here yesterday.
Since Constitution (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2022, which outlaws party hopping, was passed at the Dewan Rakyat on July 28, 2022, Warisan leaders have been pushing GRS to table the Sabah-level anti-hopping bill as soon as possible.
Last month, Hajiji said during the launch of Gagasan that he is not delaying the adoption of the federal law, but wanted the state cabinet to approve it first before tabling it in the state legislature.
Since the party was launched, it has accepted eight assemblymen from other parties – four from Umno, and four from Warisan, and the party now has 26 assemblymen out of 79 state seats.
Kiandee stressed that if Gagasan was truly against party hopping, they should not have accepted the assemblymen.
“If party hopping is wrong, then those who accept party hoppers are also wrong,” the Beluran MP said.
Meanwhile, Kiandee said Sabah Bersatu is recovering faster than expected as he received some 2,000 members from a government party, with Upko having joined Bersatu yesterday.
He said Sabah Bersatu has successfully rebuilt 17 divisions out of 25 – arranged by parliamentary seats – only four months after the mass exodus of Sabah Bersatu leaders now with Gagasan.
“Today we received members from a government party, which is unusual; usually people from the opposition jump to a government party, not the other way around.
“This goes to show that the people see that Bersatu is a party that will lead the government in the future. Their openness shows that Bersatu and the PN are on the right political track. Let us see in the next state election,” he said.
Out of the 2,000 Libaran Upko division members, 24 were branch chiefs under the party division.
Kiandee said he believes that the people can now compare between governments, and will realise that the PN government had managed to cushion the impact of Covid-19 during its governance from 2020 to 2022.
Now, he said, Sabahans are not only suffering from rising goods prices, but its infrastructural issues – bad roads and water supply – are getting worse by the day.
He also said that in the coming state polls, he is confident that PN can not only defend its existing three states, but will be able to snatch the other three – Selangor, Penang, and Negri Sembilan. – The Vibes, April 17, 2023
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