KUCHING: Pakatan Harapan Sarawak has called for immediate enactment of the anti-hopping law by the newly installed Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri-led federal government.
This is to restore public confidence in the country’s political system, said its chairman and Sarawak DAP leader Chong Chieng Jen in a statement issued after a Sarawak PH meeting today (Aug 26).
The meeting was held to deliberate on the meet up between Ismail Sabri and PH leaders in Putrajaya last Wednesday where they had sealed a cooperation agreement on several matters.
Chong said it was only when the voters were assured that the winning candidates would not party-hop after being elected that they would have the confidence in the country’s electoral system and the desire to vote.
“The government must first and foremost enact the anti-hopping law to curb all party-hopping activities in future,” he added.
Chong said the government should also immediately implement Undi18 to acknowledge the role of young people in the nation’s democracy.
Aside from the proposed enactment of the anti-hopping law, Sarawak PH also urged the government to inject more fund into the system and to make Covid-19 free testing available to all.
Chong said injecting more funds (an example of which is the RM45 billion fiscal injection as suggested by PH) into the system would save the country’s economy, businesses and employment.
However, he said there should be a mechanism set up to monitor and oversee the actual implementation of such allocation to ensure that it actually reached the people and businesses.
On the meeting between the prime minister and PH leaders, Chong said Sarawak PH partners were unanimous in their views that the meeting was a positive political development in the country.
“This will be the first step to change from previous domineering top-down way of governing to one that seeks co-operation and consensus from both sides of the House.
“Such a change will not be possible if there is one dominant party or a very lopsided number of representatives between the ruling coalition and the Opposition,” he added.
