KUCHING: The recently passed Anti-Party Hopping Bill in Parliament will put a halt to unhealthy politics and ensure a more stable government.
In saying this, Public Health, Housing and Local Government Deputy Minister I Datuk Dr Penguang Manggil stressed this will ensure a better certainty for the nation and its economic well-being.
“The Anti-Party Hopping Bill, indeed, is very timely because of late there had been party hopping by established party members as well as individuals for reasons only known to themselves.
“In fact, it has become a norm. In my view it is a matter of principle and if one believes in what a party is striving for, one should work for it and stay in that party through and through and should not move the goal post as and when one wishes to do at his whim and fancy.
“If this happens, which has been proven time and again, the ‘frog’ will ‘win’ but his or her supporters will ‘lose’… chaotic and will be left in no man’s land,” he said.
He thus said he very much welcomed the passing of the Anti-Party Hopping Bill.
“It is also my belief that such politicians should not join politics in the first place because their intention is not serving the rakyat but rather for their own well being,” he said.
The anti-party hopping law was mooted by both the government and opposition MPs after the infamous Sheraton Move back in early 2020 where several MPs ‘jumped’ ship from their respective political parties which resulted in the fall of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government.
The Bill was part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and the PH coalition, and was drafted by both government and opposition MPs through the Parliamentary Special Select Committee (PSSC), Legal Affairs Division of the Prime Minister’s Department, Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Parliament of Malaysia which took almost a year.
It was passed in Parliament on July 28.
