KUCHING: Lawmakers who switch parties betray the trust of voters and should give up their seats, says Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party (Aspirasi) president Lina Soo.
She said the tabling of the Constitution (Amendment) Bill (No. 3) on the provision of the Prohibition of Members of Parliament from Party Hopping was long overdue but better late than never.
“This bill will also reduce political corruption where the lawmaker hops party for financial gains, so election becomes no more a responsibility to serve the people, but becomes a get-rich-quick scheme for the party hopper,” she said in a press statement on Friday.
However, Lina said she was puzzled as to why any action of a political party which left a coalition and joined another was not deemed as hopping.
“Does this mean now instead of buying one lawmaker or more, the whole party will have to be bought wholesale that it becomes acceptable and legitimate?
“What is the difference between one or a group of lawmakers who hop, and the whole party which hops?
“Meaning a lawmaker cannot hop from party to party, but a party can hop from one coalition to another? Is this also not destabilising politics, and with higher stakes?,” she asked.
She said if one political party left the ruling government which then lacked majority to form the government, then Parliament should dissolve and pave way for a new mandate from the people.
