MINISTER in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar is optimistic that the proposed anti-party hopping Bill can be enforced according to schedule this September.
He said the Bill, which for the first time was drafted by government and Opposition MPs through the Parliamentary Special Select Committee (PSSC), was highly anticipated by many parties.
He explained that all the MPs involved in drafting the Bill had expertise in the field of legislation, and that the Bill had gone through many processes of dealing with MPs and related parties.
“This Bill went through a process of discussion and debate between members of the PSSC, which is made up of government and Opposition MPs.
“We feel comfortable with the drafting process of this Bill ... it has gone through many vetting processes.
“InsyaAllah (God willing), it can be enforced by early September,” he said at a press conference in Parliament House.
Earlier, Wan Junaidi, who is in charge of Parliament and law, chaired an engagement session involving government MPs.
A similar session with Opposition MPs will be held today.
Wan Junaidi also said no government backbenchers were against the proposed Bill, called the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2022.
“They are comfortable with the proposed laws and no one voiced their rejection during the briefing session on the Bill.
“After all, they themselves want such laws,” he added.
He said the proposed law would be debated in the Dewan Rakyat tomorrow and was expected to be passed on Thursday.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob would table a motion to present the PSSC report to the House tomorrow, which details how the proposed Bill was drafted, he added.
He said the House would conduct two separate voting sessions after debates had concluded.
“There will be a vote on the PSSC report, which requires a simple majority vote.
“A second vote will then be held for the proposed constitutional amendments, which will require two-thirds majority support,” he added.
Wan Junaidi said he believed the proposed anti-hopping law could be enforced by early September once it had been passed by both Houses of Parliament and received the Royal Assent and date of gazettement.
He added that the anti-hopping law would only involve MPs and must be adopted by the respective state governments for it to apply to state elected representatives.
Prior to this, there was talk of resistance from politicians from Umno and Bersatu on the proposed law when the government intended to table the anti-hopping law in Parliament in March this year.
The proposed law was met with resistance from both government and Opposition MPs, which centred around the possibility of the ramifications of the law being too wide, which could be abused by political parties to silence dissent within their ranks.
