OVER the weekend, we saw two PKR MPs switching sides. Larry Sng from Julau and Steven Choong from Tebrau have pledged their support for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

Earlier Sabah’s Sebatik assemblyman Hassan Amir Gani from Warisan pledged support for the ruling Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) coalition. These developments have sparked anger among the people.

Many feel that these lawmakers who jumped ship had abandoned their principles for the sake of political expediency. The fact is that most Malaysians vote according to party and a defecting MP betrays the trust placed by their voters.

There are no right or wrong answers to this. Neither is it my intention to dwell into the merits of party-hopping or the proposed laws that ban such practices.

But there appears to be double standards by some when it comes to party-hopping. For these people, the practice is wrong if it doesn’t fit into their political viewpoint and acceptable if it does.

Many ignore the fact that both sides are equally guilty of this. Let’s not forget that opposition head Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is the first one to resort to this on a large scale with the expressed purpose of triggering a change in government.

In his infamous “September 16” caper in 2008, he went to town promising Malaysians that the then ruling BN will topple come that date. The date came and went, and the BN fell only a good 10 years and two general elections later with Anwar himself in prison for sodomy then.

More recently, as Pakatan Harapan attempted to seize back Putrajaya, it too attempted to woo Perikatan Nasional MPs, especially those from Umno. This time, Anwar was not alone in the attempt. Other PH leaders too were party to the move which they had criticised in the past, whether actively wooing the MPs or giving their tacit approval by not speaking up.

In particular, Umno thought nothing of joining forces with the DAP to wrest back Putrajaya despite both parties’ long chequered past. What difference does it make whether PN was wooing PH or the other way round? The very people who spoke up against political frogs should hold all political amphibians by the same standards – not just when it works in their favour.

By the same token, ex-Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal should not be hypocritical when he criticised the Sebatik assemblyman who defected to the GRS. 

Shafie himself became the Sabah CM in 2018 after a series of defections from BN assemblymen, particularly those from UPKO. Shafie has no moral ground to criticise his ex-party colleague Hassan Amir who switched allegiance to GRS.

Let’s all not be hypocrites. We should hold all YBs to the same standards when it comes to party-hopping. Not just when it suits us. – March 4, 2021.

* Victor Rozario reads The Malaysian Insight.

* 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.