Bukit Gantang rep skipped anti-hopping law vote in protest - report
Bersatu’s Bukit Gantang MP Syed Abu Hussin Hafiz Syed Abdul Fasal reportedly said he skipped voting on the Anti-Hopping Bill yesterday in protest of the proposed law.
According to Free Malaysia Today yesterday, Syed Abu Hussin said the bill should only be tabled after the next general election because the current government comprised those who defected from other parties.
“The government we have is one that was created by party hoppers...
Bersatu’s Bukit Gantang MP Syed Abu Hussin Hafiz Syed Abdul Fasal reportedly said he skipped voting on the Anti-Hopping Bill yesterday in protest of the proposed law.
According to a report in Free Malaysia Today, Syed Abu Hussin said the bill should only be tabled after the next general election because the current government comprised those who defected from other parties.
“The government we have is one that was created by party hoppers. Even the prime minister was chosen by those who had switched parties.
“I didn’t attend the sitting because I don’t agree with this at all,” he reportedly told the news portal yesterday.
Syed Abu Hussin argued that Malaysia could have waited for the 15th general election before enacting the law because mass party hopping was only a recent phenomenon when political alliances were formed.
He also said legislators should instead amend the Federal Constitution to allow people to elect the prime minister directly.
This, he is quoted as saying, would provide for a “stronger and more stable government”.
Syed Abu Hussin left Umno in 2018, becoming an independent MP before joining Bersatu in 2020 after Perikatan Nasional took over the country’s administration.
Under Malaysia’s current electoral system, voters choose 222 MPs through a first-past-the-post system.
The Yang di-Pertuan Agong then appoints the prime minister based on who among the MPs is likely to have the confidence of the majority of the other MPs. This usually means the leader of the party or coalition that won the most seats in the Dewan Rakyat would become the prime minister.
Yesterday, the Dewan Rakyat passed the Constitution (Amendment) (No 3) Bill to prevent the kind of political defections that led to the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan and Perikatan Nasional governments in the last two years.
Once enacted as law, the bill would mean an MP who “ceases to be a member” of his or her party would lose the elected seat, and a new election would have to be called to fill the vacancy within 60 days.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said he hopes to table the law in the Dewan Negara on Aug 9, with the aim of having it gazetted in the first week of September.
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