Anti-hopping bill to be tabled in next Parliament session
The government plans to table an anti-hopping law during next month’s Parliament session, de facto Parliament and Law Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said today.
He also announced that a bipartisan technical committee has been set up to draw up the bill...
The government plans to table an anti-hopping law during next month’s Parliament session, de facto Parliament and Law Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said today.
He also announced that a bipartisan technical committee has been set up to draw up the bill.
These decisions were made in a meeting yesterday between the Transformation and Political Stability Steering Committee members.
Comprising members from Putrajaya and Pakatan Harapan, the committee was set up after the government and opposition parties signed a memorandum of understanding in September last year.
“The meeting decided that the anti-hopping bill will be finalised and tabled in the first session of the fifth term of the 14th Parliament in 2022, which will begin on Feb 28.
“The minister also informed (the meeting) that this was in line with the prime minister’s (Ismail Sabri Yaakob) call for the bill to be expedited.
“The minister further informed (the meeting) that a bipartisan technical committee will be set up... and its members will comprise four members from the government and four from Harapan,” Wan Junaidi (above, right) said in a statement this afternoon.
According to the Parliament website, the next Dewan Rakyat session will be for 16 days, from Feb 28 to Mar 24.
Committee members not yet appointed
Malaysiakini has learned that the eight technical committee members for the anti-hopping bill have yet to be appointed.
“This technical committee will meet next week over the details of the proposed policy and legal framework,” added the minister.
Political defections have long plagued the country's politics. Party-hopping was involved in the Sheraton Move political coup in February 2020.
Defections were also the cause of the September 2020 Sabah snap election and the Malacca snap polls in November last year.
