THE events before and after the Sabah elections and after GE 14 show one thing – party hopping continues to make a mockery of the collective will of the people, causing considerable damage to political stability and consequential damage to the economy.
The solution to this problem when we have corrupt politicians who lack integrity is to make legislative changes and judicial reviews of past ill-considered Federal Court decisions to require unambiguous resignations in the event of party hopping.
However, it is unlikely that this will come about soon. Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad dithered so long to make legislative changes during his second term from 2018 to 2020 that the government fell before anything was done over this promised reform by Pakatan Harapan.
Mahathir was not the right person to do this because he accepted more than a score of frogs into his then party to swell the number of Bersatu MPs, which was only 13 immediately after GE14.
It is ironic that the frogs took revenge on Mahathir, who during his first period as PM from 1981 to 2003 destabilised and caused the downfall of the democratically elected opposition PBS in 1994 by causing frogs to jump over to BN. PBS is now part of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), the winner in the latest Sabah state elections.
Assemblymen not only in Sabah but in the peninsula too became susceptible to inducement to jump ponds. But history was created when the federal government itself was overthrown when Mahathir’s home minister and ally Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin betrayed him by throwing him out in an alliance with Umno/BN.
Now, PM-in-waiting (again) Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has claimed he has a comfortable majority in Parliament and has asked for another date for an audience with the King who was earlier admitted to hospital.
If reports that 15 Umno MPs have crossed over to support him as PM are true and all his current support stays with him, then change is imminent. But majorities, without outlawing frogs and in the absence of integrity among politicians, shift by the day and sometimes by the hour, depending on who is offering what.
Even if the situation is stable for a while, one cannot discount the possibility of whole parties in a coalition shifting allegiances as happened earlier at the federal level.
And even if such stability has been achieved, at what price does it come? What do the frogs get and how long will corruption and patronage continue?
The long-term solution has got to be some way of stopping party-hopping.
That means too that people should stop justifying party-hopping on the basis that one party is better than the other – even in the best of times a highly subjective decision which will not have the agreement of all.
The underlying principle about fair and free elections is that the will of the majority as to who will rule has to be respected. If party hopping results in that aim being thwarted it has to go - the right to freedom of association as far as this is concerned should be abandoned in favour of the greater good.
For former Sabah chief minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal and his Warisan Plus alliance does not have the majority to rule but the GRS coalition has. So it was right the chief minister came from that coalition.
Giving Shafie first right to form the government would mean that frogs will be enticed to leap to his side and it will be a given that he will form the government – against the wishes of the electorate.
It is wrong for usually right-thinking people to now say that party hopping is right because they feel the wrong party is in power. For better or worse, in a functioning democracy without the faults we have in our system, that is a matter for the electorate to decide.
It’s straight-forward for Shafie – he should accept the very recent election result and work towards winning the state back five years from now.
There is one way he can help ensure that members of his coalition don’t hop – choose incorruptible politicians who have a record of high integrity. But then when the system is rife with the wrong kind of people, how can we expect them to do so? Tough one that.
But what about Anwar and Harapan? Slightly different circumstances there. Harapan was deprived of government when those who came on board in the name of reform jumped ship.
Partly that was because of the people Harapan, in the name of winning elections, chose to collaborate with – the likes of Mahathir and Muhyiddin, of the Umno Ketuanan Melayu mould.
Instead of handing power to Anwar as promised and who would likely push a more inclusive agenda, they both conspired to put a government in place which was dominated by Malays who form some 60% of the population.
It pretty much excluded the others even though they constituted some 40% of the population. That was a betrayal of public aspirations through hopping.
Does that justify Anwar getting Umno and other MPs to jump back in to Harapan to effect a change of government which would put Harapan back into power? PN took some 10 Harapan MPs, so now Harapan takes 15 Umno MPs. What’s wrong?
Much as I would like to see such a thing happen because the current government is so bad, the means is wrong.
But then the reality of politics is that if there is a bad but convenient option, that will be taken to remain in power.
Remember Shafie got to form the Sabah government last time because of party hopping – it came back to bite him when Tan Sri Musa Aman claimed he had the majority after defections.
However, Sabah's Yang Dipertua Negri Tun Juhar Mahiruddin dissolved the assembly on Shafie’s recommendation.
Shafie had another chance and he lost again. It's right that he should go.
Perhaps one should take a lesson from DAP and Amanah - none of their MPs defected.
Choose well the quality of your candidates and assess their idealism thoroughly and chances of defection are less.
It was a wonder Harapan allied with the wrong – don’t work with tainted people, they will play you out.
And really, you did not need Mahathir to win GE14. Mahathir’s Bersatu won just 13 seats out of 52 contested in Peninsular Malaysia for an abysmal win rate of 25% - DAP won some 90%, PKR over 80% and Amanah 50%.
PKR had 48 seats immediately after GE14, DAP 42 and Amanah 11. So who won the elections? Mahathir? Surely not.
Right now, sentiment on both sides of the political divide seems to be that party hopping should be outlawed. Whoever comes to power or stays, they should make it a priority to make the legislative changes necessary. A few good legal brains can easily come up with a solution – this time for the good of the nation.
Fry all the frogs without exception through legislative change and we don’t have to worry about them anymore.
P Gunasegaram is editorial consultant of The Vibes. He says that among the most insidious sayings he has ever come across is this one attributed to various persons: The end justifies the means.
