MEMBERS of parliament (MPs) and assemblymen may have to vacate their seats if their party leaves a coalition after an election, sources familiar with discussions on anti-party hopping bill amendments said.

They said this is due to the new definition of political parties, which included coalitions such as Barisan Nasional (BN), Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Perikatan Nasional (PN).

According to the sources, among the proposed changes are amending article 160 of the Federal Constitution to define registered coalitions as political parties.

This definition, adopted from the Societies Act 1966, expressly includes coalitions as political parties.

However, they said the inclusion of coalitions into the anti-party hopping amendments will only open the door to legal challenges and more issues in the future.

“If Bersatu or Star chooses to quit PN or Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) at some point in time, does that mean all their lawmakers need to face by-elections?” one of the sources asked.

“While anti-Sheraton Move voters would cheer such an extra strong anti-party hopping measure, it would complicate matters unnecessarily. Parties should be given some room to manoeuvre.”

Currently, BN, PH, PN, Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) and GRS are all registered as parties while both Bersatu and Star are members to both PN and GRS.

This amendment, if followed through, would mean that all the Bersatu and GPS lawmakers would have had to face automatic by-elections after both quit PH (2020) and BN (2018) respectively, although this amendment is not retrospective.

Although the amendment is aimed at preventing another Sheraton Move, the source said a recall election mechanism is more practical.

“Let voters decide through a recall petition whether coalition-hopping was right or wrong. Don’t make it automatic, so that parties have the freedom to switch coalitions if they do not agree in principle with the coalition leaders,” said the source.

Prior to this, former BN minister Azalina Othman Said had also tabled a private member’s bill to amend the constitution and enact a recall election law.

A bipartisan special select committee is currently drafting the constitutional amendments to prevent party-hopping.

According to Law and Parliament Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, Attorney-General Idrus Harun briefed the cabinet last Wednesday and it has asked the committee to fine-tune two issues.

Wan Junaidi, who chairs the committee, did not elaborate on what the two issues were.

The committee was formed on April 11 following an agreement between Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and PH leaders.

The change is part of six main constitutional amendments the committee is discussing.

Freedom to re-contest

According to the sources, the other important amendments include removing article 48(6) that prohibits MPs from contesting in an election within five years after their resignations.

The clause was added in 1990 during the Dr Mahathir Mohamad administration to prevent by-elections used by political rebels as a mini referendum. In 1988, the then Umno rebel Shahrir Samad relinquished his Johor Baru seat, and won it back handsomely as an Independent.

The article’s repeal is important as it would allow lawmakers to resign from their seats and seek re-election if they disagreed with their parties on principle as Shahrir did.

Other proposed amendments include inserting a new article 49A to spell out the conditions where an MP has to vacate his seat.

“The seat shall become vacant if the MP resigns or ceases to be a member of his party.

“One of the conditions for vacating the seat is on Independents. Independent MPs who join parties after they were elected as Independents will automatically vacate their seats if they subsequently join a party,” said the sources.

The 14th general election saw three independent MPs – P. Prabakaran (Batu), Jugah Muyang (Lubok Antu) and Larry Sng (Julau) – join PKR after the polls. While Prabakaran is still in PKR, Sng and Muyang quit the party after the Sheraton Move.

Sng went on to start Parti Bangsa Malaysia while Muyang has remained as a pro-government Independent MP.

MPs, however, will not have to vacate their seats if they are sacked from their parties. This also applies to MPs who resign from their parties after being elected as speaker and MPs from parties that are subsequently de-registered, said the sources. – June 8, 2022.