KOTA KINABALU: Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor tabled the long overdue Anti-Hopping Bill in the State Legislative Assembly on Thursday (May 25).
The proposed law tabled was similar to the Federal law, whereby it required elected assemblymen who left their parties to vacate their seats under the 2023 Constitutional amendment.
In tabling the Bill, he said that party hopping had created instability and disrupted government plans.
"The government considers the problem of party hopping serious and the issue has raised a lot of debates and polemic among the people," Hajiji said.
He said this was because it involved the mandate given by the people to pick their elected representatives.
In outlining the thrust of the Bill, he said the law would not be used in retrospect but would be enforced from the day it was gazetted.
Hajiji said that assemblymen crossing over within parties in a coalition would also be considered as hopping and would have to vacate their seats.
In defining 'membership' further, he said even direct members of a coalition party would also be subjected to the anti-hop law if they moved out.
He said the assemblyman’s membership in a political party would be the basis of decision and not the coalition he contested in.
"The use of political party symbols or coalition party symbols will not be taken into account in this anti-hop law," Hajiji explained.
He said exceptions for assemblymen to keep their seats if their parties were dissolved or deregistered.
He said if an assemblyman was made the Speaker of the State Assembly, he would not be required to vacate his seat.
An assemblyman would not lose his seat if he was fired from his political party.
The amendment allowed for assemblymen to re-contest their seats at any time as the five year ban to re-contest would no longer be enforced.
Any vacancy through party hopping should be informed to the Speaker by writing and if there was a vacancy, the Speaker should inform the Election Commission in 21 days from the date the vacancy notice was issued.
The assemblymen had begun debating the Bill with most assemblymen supporting the anti-hopping amendment but some like PH-Tanjong Papat’s Datuk Frankie Poon questioned the law on the six nominated assemblymen.
He asked if the anti-hopping law would be applied to the six nominated assemblymen who enjoyed similar powers of an elected assemblyman.
Under the Sabah Constitution, 73 assemblymen were elected while the ruling government could appoint six nominated assemblymen from any political party or even non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to be assemblymen.
