NO ONE should be embarrassed if they have commented wrongly on the application of the anti-party hopping law, when even its main drafter Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar made a wrong call on the political fate of the Bersatu 4.

According to Wan Junaidi, the reason why the four MPs were not found to be in breach of the law is because someone had told him that they contested under the GRS ticket that had left Bersatu shortly before the general election.

Therefore, Article 49A of the Federal Constitution where a MP would lose his/her seat if he/she resigns from the political party ceases to apply because they have been contesting under the banner of GRS and in this case, their membership of Bersatu does not matter.

This perhaps also speaks to another weakness of the law that has failed to take into account the political coalition candidates are contesting under even though they are a member of a political party.

For instance, unlikely as it may seem, could Muhyiddin Yassin still retain his Pagoh seat if he ceases to be a member of Bersatu even though he contested the seat under Perikatan Nasional.

Having said that, the law has already created huge political change that some could not have imagined.

The public may be mistaken in concluding that this is the first time Malaysia has faced a hung parliament after the conclusion of the general election. That assertion is only true if we are looking at parliament at the federal level.

At the end of the 2018 general election, there were three hung state parliaments in Kedah, Perak and Sabah.

The three hung parliaments ultimately resulted in a single majority government and it was only possible because of political defections.

It is safe to say without the law, a hung parliament in 2018 would have yielded a very different government, possibly not a coalition government nor Anwar Ibrahim being the Prime Minister.

In some ways, Muhyiddin Yassin was rightly aggrieved by the palace’s decision to acknowledge Anwar Ibrahim’s majority but not his.

He has essentially followed through with the Sheraton Move playbook with his pursuit of statutory declarations from individual MPs.

In an era with no such law, that could have been enough for Muhyiddin to edge over Anwar and be appointed as prime minister.

This is because a prime minister only needs to enjoy the confidence of the house, but it matters little whether part of that confidence stems from an opposition coalition.

However, it is precisely because of the law that Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s hand was strengthened in a rebellion within Barisan Nasional (BN) on who to support as prime minister that would cost those mutinous MPs their immediate political future.

The law, in my opinion, should be lenient enough to allow MPs to decide on matters such as their choice of prime minister and thus far it is still not clear whether going against a party leader would be a breach of the law.

Nevertheless, BN MPs have toed the line and obeyed Zahid solely because of the existence of the law.

Therefore, the law did not just prevent political defections but also paved a path for Anwar to be made prime minister.

While the political chemistry between Anwar and Zahid is also vital for PH and BN to kiss and make up so quickly, I suspect without the law, most Umno MPs would leave Umno immediately and join Bersatu, thereby giving Muhyiddin the required numbers to form a government.

Zahid’s political career would have ended overseeing the biggest exodus in Umno’s history. I suspect Umno’s loss to Bersatu would be huge and coupled with Zahid’s unpopularity would have truly spelled the end of Umno, which would have been on the verge of dissolving.

If there is no such law, Bersatu would have effectively replaced Umno as Malaysia’s “Grand Old Party”, something that Dr Mahathir Mohamed has always intended to achieve with the party he founded.

Therefore, by preventing political defections, the law has assisted the formation of a PH-BN coalition government and ending Anwar’s long wait for premiership, giving both Zahid and Umno another chance, preventing their demise at the hands of Muhyiddin and Bersatu.

It is hard to think of another legislation or policy that has managed to bring forth such profound political change to our country. –  December 18, 2022.

Kenneth Cheng has always been interested in the interplay between human rights and government but more importantly he is a father of two cats, Tangyuan and Toufu. When he is not attending to his feline matters, he is most likely reading books about politics and human rights or playing video games. He is a firm believer in the dictum “power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will”.
 

* Kenneth Cheng has always been interested in the interplay between human rights and government but more importantly he is a father of two cats, Tangyuan and Toufu. When he is not attending to his feline matters, he is most likely reading books about politics and human rights or playing video games. He is a firm believer in the dictum “power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will”.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.