KUCHING: Another historical moment in the Parliament was etched when the Constitution (Amendment) Bill (No. 3) on the provision of the Prohibition of Members of Parliament from Party Hopping was approved with the support of 209 votes.
The winding up session of the Bill was delivered by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar at 4.00pm, today.
His winding up took about 40 minutes and followed by voting to have the two-thirds majority votes among the Members of Parliament.
The Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun then announced the voting results, which saw more than two-thirds of the MPs supporting the Bill.
“Congratulations to all honourable members for creating history today. There are 209 votes that show their agreement on the Bill while 11 MPs are absent.
“Therefore, the votes are more than two thirds majority and the Bill will be read for the third time and pass,” he said.
Meanwhile, in his winding up speech, Wan Junaidi said the action of MPs who are from a political party then become an Independent is considered to change parties because they have won the seat of a political party that has been given a mandate by the people through a vote during the election based on the political party he represented.
“In addition, a Member of the House of Representatives who is not a member of any political party (Independent member) can support any political party or coalition party but must remain an Independent Member of the House of Representatives and cannot join any political party.
“If he chooses to join a political party, then he is considered to have changed parties.
“This is because the mandate is given to the people on the Independent ticket and if this mandate is not fulfilled, then the position of Member of the House of Representatives must be returned to the people through election,” he said when replying to questions from MPs of Jempol, Dungun, Julau and Hang Tuah Jaya.
On Wednesday, Bera MP, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismali Sabri Yaakob when tabling the Bill for second reading, said that the Bill aims to ensure political stability and prevent the country from facing a continuous political crisis.
“He said the historic constitutional amendment was made to protect the mandate given by the people during the general election and the trust placed on the members of the Dewan Rakyat.
“Apart from that, I am confident that the Bill is also capable of stopping any elected representative from changing parties without any valid or reasonable excuse, hence ensuring political stability in the country for the long run,” he said.
The prime minister said the government viewed seriously the action of changing parties, defections, party-jumping or floor-crossing, which caused much debate and polemics among the general public because it involved the mandate and trust of the people who elected their representatives to be in the Dewan Rakyat.
The bill 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 had taken almost a year as it was not an easy process.
