THE Pakatan Harapan (PH) presidential council is committed to ensuring the anti-party hopping bill is tabled and passed by Parliament.

The new bill must be tabled in a special Dewan Rakyat sitting by the end of May, they added.

“The presidential council reiterated its stance that the anti-party hopping bill is one of the key terms in the Memorandum of Understanding on Transformation and Political Stability,” it said in a statement.

“PH is committed to the process of ensuring the constitutional amendment and the anti-party hopping bill are successfully tabled and approved in Parliament, in order to restore the confidence of the people in the electoral process and in turn guarantee the future of democracy in Malaysia.

“The constitutional amendment and anti-party hopping bill, which have been agreed to by both sides, must be tabled at a special session before the end of May.”

The statement was issued by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu, Upko president Wilfred Madius Tangau and DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke.

This morning, Law and Parliament Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar announced in Parliament that the government had 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 PH leaders.

Both sides also agreed 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.

Article 48(6) states that a person who relinquishes 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.

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”.

He said that both sides have also agreed to a bipartisan select committee to decide on the anti-party hopping bill and it will be tabled in Parliament in July. – April 11, 2022.