THE time has come for the country to consider having recall elections to keep elected representatives in check and put a stop to party-hopping, former chief justice Richard Malanjum said.

He said if there is a legal provision to have recall elections, elected representatives would not be so quick in defecting or crossing over to another party for whatever reasons.

A recall election is a procedure where voters can remove their elected representative through a referendum, or fresh election, before that representative’s term of office has ended.

The recall could be initiated if 51% or more of the voters in the constituency have signed a petition for it.

Malanjum, in his online talk “Democracy and the Rule of Law in Malaysia” today, said defections by politicians had often triggered political turmoil, like what had happened in the country in the last two years.

He was referring to the spate of defections by Pakatan Harapan (PH) elected representatives that led to the collapse of the PH government in February last year.

Shifting of support, too, led to the snap election in Malanjum’s home state of Sabah in July last year.

“That’s why we are in this hole now,” he said.

Malanjum said if the country has the recall election, “then we can have good, responsible YBs (elected representatives).

“Implement the recall elections (so) delinquent elected representatives can be removed. Elected reps must be told they have an obligation to the people who voted for them.

“They have a responsibility. They cannot behave like they are kings or rulers after the election.”

Malanjum said if there is a recall election then it would remind the elected representatives “they are servants of the people” adding that getting elected was “not an opportunity (for them) to make money”.

Malanjum, who was chief justice from July 2018 to April 2019, said there have also been instances where elected representatives think “they have been sent by God”.

He acknowledged, there is a legal precedent on the freedom of association and that freedom is also written in the federal constitution.

“But that principle must stop somewhere. If (the representative) was voted to stand for ‘Platform A’, then they have no business or right to speak for ‘Platform B’.”

Muhyiddin Yassin, just before he resigned, tried to reach out to the opposition by promising he would make six reforms, and a seventh if he gets a two-thirds majority in a confidence vote.

These include allocating equal constituency funds to all MPs, adding RM45 billion to the Covid-19 fund as mooted by the opposition, according to opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim the same standing as a senior minister, as well as electoral and parliamentary changes such as limiting a prime minister’s tenure to two terms and tabling the anti-party-hopping bill. – August 21, 2021.