PBS secretary-general Joniston Bangkuai, who is also a Sabah assistant minister, urged the public to participate in the anti-party hopping law survey currently being conducted by the legal affairs division of the Prime Minister’s Department.
The Kiulu assemblyman said public input and views was crucial.
“We need an effective law to stop lawmakers from switching parties. Hence, we need input from all Malaysians,” he said in a statement here today.
Law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar had last week announced that a survey, spearheaded by the division, would be conducted from Nov 23 to Dec 7 to gather input and feedback from the public on the proposed bill to curb party hopping.
Wan Junaidi also revealed that a draft bill had already been prepared but it was still under embargo as there were still many policy matters which remained unanswered.
PBS had previously experienced first-hand the ugly side of party hopping in 1994. The party swept to power in Sabah in 1985 and successfully weathered a snap election in 1986 brought about by the defection of two of its assemblymen.
The former Barisan Nasional (BN) party subsequently won the state elections in 1990 and 1994.
However, barely two months after the 1994 elections, the state government, led by PBS founder and then president Joseph Pairin Kitingan, collapsed when three of its assemblymen switched their allegiance to BN.
PBS tried to put a stop to party hopping by passing a law in the state legislature in 1988 to prevent assemblymen from defecting but it was declared null and void by the High Court.
“As a victim of party hopping in 1994, PBS appreciates and lauds the current government’s proposal to table an Anti-Party Hopping Bill in Parliament. This shows the government is receptive to the wishes of the people,” Bangkuai said.
He said the role of assemblymen and MPs was important in the parliamentary democracy system in the country because they are the representatives of the people.
“It is the people who elect these leaders to represent them in the legislative assembly and Parliament. Therefore, if the representatives are elected on a party platform, it is only fair for them to remain loyal to the party under which they were elected by the people.”