THE government has decided to defer amending Article 10 (3a) of the Federal Constitution and to refer the amendments and the drafting of an anti-party hopping law to a special select committee following a meeting between Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Pakatan Harapan leaders.

Law and Parliament Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar announced the delay in a special sitting in the Dewan Rakyat this morning.

“The prime minister and PH agreed this morning to review and refine the (legal) interpretation of restrictions on party-hopping (and to study the repeal of) Article 48(6) and other related laws,” he said.

“They also decided that a special select committee will decide the constitutional amendments and the formulation of a new anti party-hopping bill ,” said the Santubong MP.

Article 48(6) states that a person who resigns his membership of Dewan Rakyat shall, for a period of five years beginning on the date on which his resignation takes effect, be disqualified from being a member of the House.

In his opening address, Wan Junaidi said there were various reasons for a lawmaker to change parties or “cross the floor” and this has all been lumped together as party-hopping.

As such, he said it was better to have a standalone law that clearly defines such situations. 

He said the anti-party hopping law was crucial to maintain political stability as the country has seen three changes of prime ministers and 39 MPs switch parties since 2018. 

“This shows that the political scenario in the country is unhealthy and worrisome,” said Wan Junaidi.

“This has caused voters to lose faith in lawmakers and the political process.”

Wan Junaidi said the government had initially planned to amend article 10(3a) of the constitution and use it as an “enabling clause” for subsequent laws to prevent party-hopping.

But after consulting with PH, the government decided that the amendment itself needed to be “refined”. 

“As such, the government agreed yesterday to form a bipartisan select committee to decide on the anti-party hopping bill and this will be tabled in Parliament in July,” said Wan Junaidi.

Before today, the government had proposed to amend article 10 by inserting clause 3a.

The clause reads, “Notwithstanding paragraph c of Clause 2 and 3, restrictions on the right to form association conferred by Clause 1c relating to members in a political party of MPs and assemblymen may be imposed by federal law”.

Critics of the bill said the amendment gave the government too much power to decide whether a lawmaker could change parties while failing to specifically address the problem of party-hopping. – April 11, 2022.