THIS afternoon, the Johor Youth Assembly discussed the ethics and morality of party hopping, and the need to enact a law to curb this practise. 

The Johor Youth Assembly is a platform for youth to debate and discuss state policies for the betterment of society.  

Party-hopping has been a norm in Malaysian politics since the 1960. But in recent years,  especially since 2018 general election, the activity has become rampant with the involvement of  power and money. The political situation in Sabah is a good example of this.

Iman Yahya in his speech today said public ethics and political morality are important and democracy will fail if both are compromised.

Isamuddin Isa argued from an economic perspective, saying party hopping will affect the economy, like what happened in the Sheraton Move on February 23.

Law student Marsha Ishak said before the government enacts a law on party-hopping, Parliament needs to repeal article 48(6) of the constitution to return democracy to people, but there should some restrictions on holding an election if the elected representative switches to another party for money or positions.

Article 48(6) states that an elected representative will be barred from standing in an election for five years if he or she resigns.

She said amending Article 10(C), since political parties are under the purview of the Registrar of Societies (ROS).

The last ingredient is that the Parliamentary Select Committee of Party Hopping led by Padang Rengas MP Nazri Aziz must have political will. Theses suggestions today presented to them will help to achieve this and we hope for bi-partisan support for these proposals.

Absolute freedom creates absolute corruption, the amendment is needed as the Federal Constitution is the supreme law of the land and it will help bring stability to our country. 

This motion has been carried unanimously by Law, Security, Integrity and International Committee of Johor Youth Assembly, which consists of 58 youth.

* Muhammad Shaqib Shahrilnizam is chariman of the Law, Security, Integrity and International Committee of the Johor Youth Assembly.

* 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.