MORE opposition lawmakers are expected to follow in the footsteps of former PKR vice president Dr Xavier Jayakumar, said Federal Territories Minister Annuar Musa.

According to Annuar, the there are many more people ready to give support to Perikatan Nasional, aside from Xavier, who controversially quit the party earlier today to stand as a government-friendly independent, effective immediately.

“Seven or eight of my MP friends have given indications that they are ready to support the government,” Annuar told reporters in Putrajaya today.

However, the Ketereh MP refused to name any of these supposed supporters, saying they would be forced into a denial.

Xavier said he had grown extremely frustrated following the events of the past year, adding that the opposition was pressing for elections when it should be helping the government combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Our current priority should be to support the government in containing the Covid-19 pandemic to create jobs and to secure funds to rebuild the economy.

“It will take at least 18 months just to complete the vaccination programme and more than two years for the economy to fully recover,” he said in a statement.

Xavier said the Perikatan Nasional government needed bipartisan support to succeed at these endeavours.

“The people want stability and to restart our ailing economic sectors. Towards this, we need to work together, not against one another.

Annuar drew on the laws of physics to describe politicians jumping ship.

“Politics is like the laws of physics; for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So, when you say there are people exiting a party you will hear news of people joining and discussions being held,” he said.

However, he noted that the attraction for many of them to swing towards PN was the administration’s performance in striking a balance between lives and livelihoods in the country’s war against Covid-19. – March 13, 2021.