A “REFINED” anti-party hopping bill will be laid in parliament on July 18, Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said today.

The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) said even though the bill had been debated since September 2021, he wished to give MPs ample opportunity to view and digest the new law and to provide feedback.

“The bill is ready. I am ready. It will be laid on the table,” he told reporters after at a Hari Raya Aidiladha event.

Wan Junaidi said he is confident there will be no more obstacles to the the second reading of the bill on July 25.

The passage of the bill was deferred after the first reading on March 11 because “everybody did not agree to the draft”.

“The scope was too wide (and) have the government too much power.”

Wan Junaidi said the bill was “deemed to (have been) tabled for its first reading when the government moved to amend article 10 of the Federal Constitution – “the enabling provision to create an anti-part hopping act”.

The amendment is to restrict elected representatives’ freedom of association.

He said since the parliament sitting was coming to an end and a 14-day notice was needed to reconvene, the cabinet resolved to hand over the bill over to the select committee to make the amendments.

To deflect accusations that the bill would be government-biased, Wan Junaidi said the select committee is bipartisan.

“It also has many legal brains,” he added pointing to Azalina Othman Said (Pengerang-BN), Takiyuddin Hassan (Kota Baru-PAS), Mohamed Hanipa Maidin (Sepang-PH), Gobind Singh Deo (Puchong-PH).

The Santubong MP said the bill should receive royal assent “by the end of September” if everything goes as planned. – July 9, 2022.