Wan Junaidi: MPs who support opposing party get to keep seats

PETALING JAYA: MPs who side with their political rivals may be seen as morally wrong, but they will not lose their seats under the new Anti-Hopping Act (AHL). The law’s chief architect, Tan Sri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said such MPs will not lose their seats unless their own party rules that members and office holders cannot support an opposing party.

“As long as the (Federal) Constitution is not amended or political parties do not amend their party constitution to make MPs automatically lose their memberships if they support for the opposing party in Dewan Rakyat, it would not affect anything at all,” he told The Star.

This comes after two Bersatu lawmakers, Kuala Kangsar MP Datuk Iskandar Dzulkarnain Abdul Khalid and Labuan MP Datuk Suhaili Abdul Rahman announced recently that they would support Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

The two had said they did so in order to access development funds from the government for their respective constituencies.

They also stressed they would remain loyal to Bersatu and had no intention of joining parties in the unity government bloc.

However, legal expert Nizam Bashir Abdul Kariem Bashir said such behaviour, despite being lawful, would weaken the spirit of the anti-hopping law.

“Opposition MPs pledging support for the Prime Minister would weaken the law because arguably the idea behind it was to ensure the voters’ mandate was upheld,” Nizam Bashir said.

Political scientist Prof Awang Azman Awang Pawi, however, argued that the AHL’s spirit was still preserved despite the actions of the two MPs.

“There are still those who are not comfortable with this but the reason for the AHL was to prevent opposing lawmakers from switching camps using SDs (statutory declaration),” said Awang Azman of Universiti Malaya.

Other experts said that the two lawmakers’ behaviour could become the new norm for politicians after a similar deal was struck between rival political coalitions in 2021 between the Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob administration and Pakatan Harapan.

Wan Junaidi said he had expected such a scenario when he first drafted the AHL and he had initially wanted to insert a provision where MPs who breached their party’s wishes will automatically lose their seats.

However, after several deliberations with the major political parties and the Parliamentary Special Select Committee, the provision was found to be democratically restrictive.