FOR quite some time now, there has been a loud chorus for an anti-party hopping law to be passed by Parliament and state assemblies to prevent MPs and reps from jumping ship for their own personal, selfish or suspicious reasons.

This issue is complicated at best. Even the courts uphold the principle of freedom of association, enshrined in the constitution as sacrosanct and will refuse to judge on this controversial issue.

It is not a matter of signing statutory declarations or agreements, because the core matter is political,not legal, and the courts will refuse to judge political matters

If a few MPs opt to join another political party or want to become independents due to differences with their existing party, it will be difficult to pressure or persuade them to give up their seats as there is only a political, not legal, bond between them.

This is one distinguishing feature that has been overlooked by all those clamouring for an anti-party hopping law.

Differences of political opinion can be a justifiable and a valid reason for members to leave the party.

The courts cannot interfere in this political matter. It will also be a more complex and totally different matter if a large group of MPs citing dissatisfaction or lack of confidence in the leadership leave the party – as was the case with the Sheraton Move, when a large chunk of MPs left Pakatan Harapan and formed Perikatan Nasional with Muhyiddin Yassin as the prime minister.

The excuse given for the Sheraton Move was that some members of Bersatu did not agree with what was happening in Pakatan Harapan and decided to break away .

Even though many in Malaysia do not agree with this, it is a perfectly acceptable situation prevailing in many countries where a party or a group of legislators can withdraw support for the coalition if they feel that they are against some of the changes made by coalition members.

The voters can’t do much about this as the break-away because MPs will respond by saying that they are holding true to the party principles, unlike the other factions. One faction will be accusing the other.

A wide range of issues concerning the election manifesto, socio-economic and political problems, aspects of government administration and others could end being controversial, which can destabilise a coalition.

Parties may group together to win an election but there is no guarantee they will stick together for the entire term.

Voters do not have much of a choice and can only look on helplessly as they have no means legal or otherwise to compel the MPs in any way.

In a coalition, these things occur but how can they be prevented? Will it mean having numerous by-elections all at once and will this not destabilise the political situation further?

Malaysia has many small parties and it will be a risk for the ruling coalitions to antagonise them, because they can leave citing any excuse and thereby bring down the government especially when the government has a slim majority.

Coalitions are the form of government for the present and future all over the world. In Malaysia, the days of monolithic parties dominating the government are over.

Various parties focus or specialise on certain issues to gain the support of the people.

In a proportional representation system, as practised in Western Europe, even small parties focusing on certain issues get a reasonably high number of MPs, who could be a force to be reckoned with in a coalition government.

It must be noted that before the political parties arrived on the scene, there was a system of elected individual legislators who said they were independents, and party hopping was unheard of.

If an anti-party hopping bill becomes law it may be more of a preventive rather than a corrective measure.

Preventive in the sense that any MP or rep wanting to jump ship might think twice. That’s all.

No law can stop party hopping as freedom of association is enshrined in the constitution. It will be better if all politicians and leaders practiced a more principled and ethics-based politics. – November 26, 2021.

* V. Thomas 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.