KUCHING, Aug 26: Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) wants an anti-hopping law to be enacted to restore public confidence in Malaysia’s political system.
This was one of three proposals put forth by its chairman Chong Chieng Jen, after a Pakatan Harapan (PH) Sarawak meeting today.
“To restore public confidence in our political system, the Government must first and foremost enact the anti-hopping law to curb all party-hopping activities in future.
“It is only when the voters are assured that the winning candidates will not party-hop after being elected that they will have the confidence in our electoral system and the desire to vote.
“This includes the immediate implementation of Undi 18 to acknowledge the role of young people in our democracy,” said Chong in a press statement.
The second proposal involved calling on the new government under Dato Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to inject more fund to save economy, business and employment.
The Kota Sentosa assemblyman said not only must the new government inject more funding into the system, citing the RM45 billion fiscal injection as suggested by PH as an example, but there must also be a mechanism set up to monitor and oversee the actual implementation of such allocation to ensure that it actually reaches the people and businesses.
The third proposal is for the federal government to immediately implement a mass testing and contact tracing strategy and free testing available to all.
Sarawak PH had met earlier this afternoon. The opposition coalition was unanimous in its view that the meetup between the Prime Minister with PH leaders Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Guan Eng and Mohamad Sabu was a positive political development in the country.
“This will be the first step to change from the previous domineering top-down way of governing to one that seeks co-operation and consensus from both sides of the House,” said Chong who is also the Stampin MP.
He said such a change will not be possible if Parliament were to be dominated by one party or there is a very lopsided difference in number of representatives between the ruling coalition and the Opposition.
“Therefore, it is pertinent upon the government to quickly set in motion concrete institutional reforms and economic revival policies proposed by PH so as to restore public confidence in the political system of the country and to save lives and our economy in the current Covid-19 pandemic,” said Chong. — DayakDaily
