IF Pakatan Harapan (PH) succeeds in forming the Malacca government, PKR will table an anti-party hopping bill in the state, party information chief Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin said.

He said this is the first thing that he will propose if the coalition wins Malacca.

“If I am elected assemblyman, the first thing I will propose is to immediately draft an anti-party hopping enactment,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

“If we (PH) take the government on November 20, the state assembly session will start a month later, and after that, the state budget. We can propose this enactment and approve it early next year.

“We will also have such a bill at the federal level because that is our agreement in the memorandum of understanding (MOU). So, at the federal level, there will be amendments to the constitution.”

Shamsul was referring to the MOU on Transformation and Political Stability signed between PH and Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob on September 13, which lists, among others, the enactment of an anti-party hopping legislation in Parliament.

The Hang Tuah Jaya MP will contest the Paya Rumput seat in the upcoming Malacca elections.

Shamsul said the bill will avoid a prolonged political crisis and also guarantee the stability of the new Malacca government.

“When (the anti-party hopping bill) is passed at the federal level, it will guarantee the stability of the government for the next five years.

“I believe that this is a practical and reasonable thing, and can be worked on at the state level.”

Therefore, voters should give PH the mandate to re-establish the state government, he added.

“I appeal to the voters to give us a comfortable mandate. If you are confident with PH, do not waste your vote.

“They (voters) can feel it when comparing PH’s 22-month administration in Malacca with Umno’s 19-month administration led by Sulaiman,” he said, referring to former chief minister Sulaiman Md Ali.

Shamsul said voters are also able to see the stability displayed by PH when running the state government, compared with when Barisan Nasional and Perikatan Nasional led – both coalitions currently in the federal government.

“Do not waste your votes… we guarantee that PH is committed to the reform agenda and the changes it wants to make. We do not want to do things that will destroy the future and our fight.

“Give us that mandate… if we score a comfortable win – 17 or 18 seats – we can survive the next five years. We want a stable government that delivers to the people and to ensure there are no party-hopping.”

The Malacca assembly was dissolved after four assemblymen withdrew their support for Sulaiman, namely Idris Haron (Sg Udang), Nor Azman Hassan (Pantai Kundor), Norhizam Hassan Baktee (Pengkalan Batu) and Noor Effandi Ahmad (Telok Mas).

Idris, who is also a former Malacca chief minister, and Nor Azman will be contesting under the PH banner in the state elections.

Malacca has a total of 28 state seats. – November 9, 2021.