KUALA LUMPUR – Amanah deputy president Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub (Pulai-PH) is calling for anti-party hopping legislation to be introduced immediately to put an end to the practice of “monkeys” (beruk) jumping between parties.
Without hiding his disdain, Salahuddin told the Dewan Rakyat today that such a law is necessary to maintain the good name of the lower House.
He said while he himself switched parties in the past – leaving PAS to join Amanah in 2015 – his action did not cause the collapse of a government.
“What we are seeing now is lawmakers conspiring and abetting to topple a government. These are the ‘beruk-beruk’ that we should stress on; they must no longer be in this august House.
“Don’t turn this place into a monkey cage. We are lawmakers, we are not political prostitutes. We are elected by the rakyat and are honourable members of this House.
“Which is why we want this (anti-hopping) act to be implemented objectively,” he said when debating the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s address.
Salahuddin said the law should be introduced during the current sitting if possible, or by year-end at the latest.
The Pakatan Harapan government, which came into power in the last general election in May 2018, collapsed in February last year after the majority of MPs from its component Bersatu switched sides.
Since then, a number of other PH lawmakers have also crossed over to support the government, including Datuk Xavier Jayakumar (Kuala Langat-Independent), Steven Choong (Tebrau-Independent) and Larry Sng (Julau-Independent).
Calls for an anti-hopping law have since intensified, with Umno’s Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said (Pengerang-BN) among the latest calling for its introduction.
Salahuddin said the country needs to be saved from these embarrassing party-hopping developments, hence the necessity for a law that will prevent them.
“Recently, Johor’s Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar decreed during the opening of the Johor assembly not to turn the House into a monkey cage.
“I agree that Parliament and the other state assemblies must not be monkey cages, with lawmakers jumping from one party to another, causing the collapse of the government.”
Sultan Ibrahim had, on August 12, warned his assemblymen not involve themselves in any political shenanigans, saying he will not tolerate the contamination of the House with bad behaviour, and that the Dewan is not a house for “caged monkeys”. – The Vibes, September 15, 2021
