CONSIDERING time constraints, the drafting of the anti-party hopping laws needs to be split into stages, with the first being a straightforward law, DAP deputy chairman Gobind Singh Deo said.

The Puchong MP said in the interest of time, regulations governing MPs who leave their party for another or become independent after winning elections must first be enacted, as establishing recall election processes may cause delays

“Do it in two stages. First (enact the law) on ‘clear-cut’ party hopping, then (look at) the recall election procedures,” he said at an anti-hopping law conference held at Wisma Badan Peguam Malaysia today.

“The best way is to include it all in the anti-hopping bill so that only one constitutional amendment is needed.

“However, the question is whether we can do it in time,” he said, adding that recall election procedures cover a vast area.

Individual party hopping and where parties enter or exit coalitions, he said, should be addressed first before the next general election.

Former minister Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof and Pengerang MP Azalina Othman Said, who both also spoke at the conference, said legal procedures to deal with elected representatives dismissed by their political parties could come later.

Subang Jaya MP Wong Chen also agreed that the government must first table the anti-hopping law as the memorandum of understanding between Pakatan Harapan and the government is due to end in July.

He said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar has managed to get a majority view on tabling the bill.

“Please understand that it has been a lot of hard work to get a majority view on this law and I doubt the same can be done if we lobbied for a recall election petition,” he said.

Last month, Wan Junaidi told the Dewan Negara that the proposed anti-hopping laws would include a provision for recall elections.

He was also reported to have said that under the proposed laws, any MP who switches parties after being elected should be permitted to run for their new party after losing their position. – May 9, 2022.