Penang executive councillors and assemblypersons from Pakatan Rakyat will meet to discuss the drating and implementation of the anti-hopping law tomorrow, said Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

Lim, the DAP secretary-general, said the meeting would be followed by a briefing to members of the media at 1pm in Komtar.

He added that there had been informal discussions with the state exco members and assembly representatives, but a formal discussion would take place tomorrow.

He stressed that parliamentary opposition leader and Permatang Pauh MP Anwar Ibrahim had been approached about the proposal and the latter has agreed to it.

“We have also received very intense and bitter opposition to the proposal from BN. It seems they are very afraid of this law to prohibit political frogs from breeding widely,” Lim told reporters today.

“This only goes to show that the BN is not in favour of a politics based on morals or ethics, and that they will continue to involve themselves in the trading of voters,” he added.

“This is a total breach of public trust,” he quipped.

‘Law is for public interest’

Lim had earlier explained that plans to enact a law to prevent state assemblypersons from switching political allegiance mid-term is to protect citizens from a breach of public trust and protecting democracy.

In response, de facto law minister Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz had claimed that such a law was against constitutional guarantees of freedom of association.

Nazri warned that the Supreme Court, which was succeeded by the Federal Court, had once ruled such a law unconstitutional.

The issue came into the limelight after several MPs from Sabah quit BN to become Pakatan-friendly recently.

DAP had been pressured to state its position following this, while it had been criticised - save for its national chairperson Karpal Singh’s view - for keeping mum over Anwar’s purported Sept 16 plan to get BN MPs to cross over to Pakatan, in a bid to seize Putrajaya.

'Anwar gives nod to law'

Meanwhile, Lim said the discussions would also look at the various models available to draft a good proposal on the law and this would be further explained during the briefing.

When asked if assemblypersons from Umno would be invited to attend the meeting, Lim said that the party had already voiced out their opposition to such a law.

It was pointed out that PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli had also expressed his opinion regarding the issue, to which Lim said, “We are talking about implementing it in Penang.”

“As for Penang reps, we do not see a problem (that they are opposed to the idea). As for Rafizi, since Anwar - the PKR de facto leader - had agreed to our proposal, the issue does not arise,” said Lim.