KUCHING, Sept 14: The tabling of Anti-party Hopping Bill is most embarrassing but it is necessary to prevent elected representatives from betraying their voters’ trust.
In stating this, Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing said the tabling of the Bill came following a public acknowledgement that elected representatives do jump around looking for greener pasture or bigger pond.
“Therefore, the tabling of anti-party hopping law in Parliament is needed.
“If our MPs cannot put their moral standing under check, let the laws check their moral standing. The end result is that we will have stable government,” he said in a statement today.
He was echoing the views of Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) secretary general Datuk Sebastian Ting who welcomed the federal government’s proposal to enact anti-hopping law to curb party hopping.
Ting said some elected members of Parliament and state assemblymen or assemblywomen, after being chosen by their respective parties to be candidates for election and upon being elected, chose to resign from their respective parties.
He said these politicians hopped to another party and in recent times, their actions led to the fall of the government with successive government being formed.
To him, it was more than fair to say that most Malaysians are tired, fed up and angry with the current culture of party hopping.
Ting who is Piasau assemblyman said when this new anti-hopping law is passed in Parliament, it will put an end to party hopping and help to keep the country’s democracy alive by preventing or minimising potlicial corruption. — DayakDaily
