Pakatan wants to meet PM on anti-party hopping Bill

GEORGE TOWN: The proposed anti-party hopping Bill should be tabled at a special parliamentary sitting rather than at the scheduled Dewan Rakyat meeting from July 18 to Aug 4, says Pakatan Harapan.

Expressing its disappointment, the Pakatan presidential council said it was seeking a meeting with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob over the delay in tabling the Bill.

Ismail Sabri said last week that there was no need to hold a special meeting, citing high costs and potential absence of some MPs as two select committees were going abroad in early July.

"We are disappointed with the government's failure to convene a special meeting of the Dewan Rakyat to table the Bill," the council said in a Facebook posting on Monday (June 13).

The coalition said it hoped the Bill will be tabled, debated and approved in the first week of the next Parliament meeting.

"Pakatan is seeking an immediate meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss the anti-hopping Bill and other matters," it said.

The three other issues in the memorandum of understanding Pakatan signed with the government last September are: setting a two-term limit for the prime minister's tenure; tabling of a Parliamentary Services Bill; and amendments to the Dewan Rakyat's Standing Orders.