Undi18 objects move to amend Federal Constitution, says giving too much power to govt

KUALA LUMPUR: Youth movement Undi18 has objected to the government’s move to amend Article 10 of the Federal Constitution, saying that it gives too much power to the government of the day.

In a statement, Undi18 said although the constitutional amendment was to enable the enactment of the anti-party hopping law, the amendments to Article 10 raises a number of major issues that would have long-term implications to democracy.

“The amendment to Article 10 of the constitution gives the government of the day broad powers to determine party membership for MPs, thus paving the way to abuse of power.

“The Article 10 amendment is not specific to the issue of party hopping and would provide a 'blank cheque' to any incumbent government to control the participation of MPs and state assemblymen in political parties," said the group.

Earlier, Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar raised similar concerns.

She was sceptical over the government’s good faith and intentions in tabling the anti-hopping Bill, saying if one were to rely on faith alone, then one can expect it to change in the future.

"It (the law) gives the Federal Government power in perpetuity to strip MPs of seats. We need to revise this legislative strategy,” the Permatang Pauh MP said in a tweet.

The tweet was in response to constitutional lawyer New Sin Yew’s comment that the impending constitutional amendment was “dangerous”.

Undi18 also argued that constitutional amendments are still required for article 48, where there are reasons why a member of the House may be deprived of his parliamentary seat.

“Without amendments to Article 48, any anti-party hopping bill that forces MPs to vacate their seats is still unconstitutional.

“The amendment to Article 10 is not able to prevent events such as the fall of the Pakatan Harapan government (Sheraton Move) and the fall of the Perikatan Nasional government from recurring.

"Both of these incidents were due to government political parties choosing to change direction and leave the government,” it explained.

Instead, the youth-based movement said that it supported Bersih 2.0 and Pengerang MP Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said's proposal for a “recall election” as a solution that is more viable.