Party-hopping is unjustifiable and must be outlawed – Ramkarpal Singh

JULAU MP Larry Sng and Tebrau MP Steven Choong have left PKR and declared their support for Perikatan Nasional.

Khairuddin A Rahim, Faizul Amri Adnan and Muhamad Said Jonit from Amanah jumped ship to PKR.

It makes no difference that the latter three are still in Pakatan Harapan, neither does it make a difference that the former two have switched alliances.

Party-hopping is anathema to any democracy as it can destabilise any government, more so a fragile one like our current PN government.

I wonder if the constituents in Julau and Tebrau will ever take their elected representatives seriously again, given that they have abandoned the very principles they preached publicly in the last general elections.

An amusing argument was raised justifying party-hopping in this instance – that government funds are needed to serve the constituency and such funds are not available if one is in the opposition.

This is laughable.

I say so because very few in Pakatan Harapan expected to be in government after GE14.

In other words, these representatives expected the real possibility of being in the opposition after GE14 without government funds for their respective constituencies, myself included.

It has never been about funds for the constituency but more about the cause of creating a better Malaysia. A Malaysia free from corruption, a Malaysia free from politics of patronage, a Malaysia free from kleptocrats, amongst others.

I have said this many times before and I will say it again.

Party hopping must stop and be outlawed.

Any government of the day that proposes this by way of a constitutional amendment in Parliament will certainly have my vote.

Else, we will never hear the end of people like Larry Sng and Steven Choong and those of their ilk. – The Vibes, February 28, 2021

Ramkarpal Singh is Bukit Gelugor MP and DAP’s national legal bureau chairman