KOTA KINABALU – A day before Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim claimed to have majority support, PKR vice-president Datuk Dr Xavier Jayakumar called for an anti-hopping law, saying the lack of such legislation is the reason for Sabah’s political turmoil.
The PKR president on Wednesday announced that he has the numbers to topple Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s administration. This was followed by Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi saying party members are free to back Anwar if they wish.
Sources have told The Vibes that the Port Dickson MP has secured the support of 15 MPs from the Barisan Nasional lynchpin.
Anwar, in his special press conference two days ago, said he is not engineering a backdoor government, but only returning to power one that was elected by the people in the 2018 general election.
Xavier said lawmakers must have strong morals and practise what they preach, adding that they should not break their electoral promises for personal gain or because they disagree with the party leadership.
“Sabah is long known for party-hopping. I think this has to stop.
“A mechanism has to be put in place; party-hopping after an election should not be allowed. It is unethical and immoral. You are taking away the people’s voice and support by doing this.
“You were voted in on one ticket, and suddenly, you change to another. How do you expect people to react?”
The Sabah assembly was dissolved on July 30 after a takeover attempt by former chief minister Tan Sri Musa Aman, who said he had the backing of enough assemblymen following defections from the government led by Parti Warisan Sabah president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal.
The state will go to the polls tomorrow, with more than 1.1 million people eligible to vote.
In late February, the Pakatan Harapan administration collapsed after just 22 months in Putrajaya when then PKR No. 2 Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali led 10 other MPs out of the party and Muhyiddin took Bersatu out of the coalition.
Xavier said it is high time for party-hopping to be made a crime, and that he supports the proposal by Umno’s Padang Rengas MP, Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, on July 22 for a party-list system to tackle the problem.
“YB Nazri brought up the issue at the last (Dewan Rakyat) sitting. I think it’s time we parliamentarians from across the board get together and come up with a law against party-hopping. This is possible.
“We have a lot of mechanisms. We have a lot of examples. Parliaments in Europe, like in Germany... (take into account) both the popular vote and the individual. The percentage of votes that each party gets (translates into the) percentage of representatives in Parliament.
“There are many ways you can do this... It’s something we have to discuss. I, to a certain extent, support the move to bring about a law that makes party-hopping a crime.” – The Vibes, September 25, 2020
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