AMANAH lawmaker Salahuddin Ayub called for the anti-party hopping law to be enacted within the current Dewan Rakyat sitting, or at the latest by the end of the year, to prevent any more incidences of lawmakers jumping ship.

Quoting the Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar’s decree during the Johor State Assembly, where the ruler said that the august House should not be turned into a “Sangkar Beruk” (monkey’s cage), Salahuddin (Pulai-PH) said the same applies for Parliament and all state assemblies.

He said the law is important to ensure that lawmakers who jump parties do not cause the collapse of governments.

“We are lawmakers, we are not political prostitutes,” he said while debating the royal address in the Dewan Rakyat today.

“We were chosen by the people to be lawmakers and honourable members of this House. We are not political prostitutes. So, we want this law to be implemented objectively,” he said.

Salahuddin was interrupted by Azizah Mohd Dun (Beaufort-Bersatu) who pointed out that he had defected from PAS to Amanah.

Salahuddin said his defection did not lead to the toppling of a government.

Salahuddin and several other PAS lawmakers left PAS in 2015 after more conservatives were voted in to lead the party that year. The group that left then formed Amanah, which became part of Pakatan Harapan (PH).

“When we left (PAS), the government did not collapse, (unlike those who) conspired and plotted and toppled the government,” he said without giving names but alluding to those who defected from PH and set the stage for its collapse in February last year.

Azizah herself was with Umno, then quit to become an independent in 2018 before joining Bersatu.

Passing anti-party hopping legislation is one of the conditions agreed upon by the government and PH in their memorandum of understanding on political stability and reformation.

In the MoU, the deadline for the anti-hopping law to be implemented is by the middle of next year. – September 15, 2021.