The Malaysian Advancement Party president also posed several questions about whether the anti-hopping bill, a key reform promised in the MoU, would be tabled at this week’s Dewan Rakyat sitting since both sides of the political divide had embraced party-hoppers.
“Would opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and Amanah president Mohamad Sabu, who absorbed frogs into their parties, accept an anti-hopping law?”
Waytha was referring to the decision made by PKR and Amanah to recruit three former Melaka Umno assemblymen as PH candidates in the Melaka state elections last November.
“Would Perikatan Nasional (PN), which is mainly made up of Umno crossovers, accept this law? Would PH really withdraw from the MoU if the anti-hopping bill is not passed this week? The rakyat is watching.”
Waytha also questioned the efforts by the opposition coalition to ensure that the bill would be tabled since it was promised to them last year.
“The sitting of Parliament for 2022 was put on the calendar months earlier. The MoU with Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob was signed on Sept 13. The main agreement in the MoU hinged on the need for an anti-hopping law.
“This law was not presented in the November-December 2021 parliamentary sitting.
“PH was told it would be tabled in the first sitting in 2022. So, what has PH been doing all this while to ensure the bill is tabled?”
The former unity minister also said that the postponement of the tabling of the bill indicated that it would not happen and become law.
“Lim said today the MoU is ‘finished and ended’ if it’s not tabled and passed as promised.
“Well, how much clearer does the government need to be? The fate of the bill is already decided. It’s not going to happen,” Waytha said.
“Even if the first reading is allowed, it would be another drama like the one staged to pacify PAS when Abdul Hadi Awang was allowed to table his bill on shariah law in April 2017,” he added.
“The rakyat is well aware of political dramas. The excuse to support the current government with the MoU and the possibility to extend it on the promise of an anti-hopping law is just another drama to keep the country and its administration paralysed with a government that has a weak mandate and a government not elected through the ballot box.”
Law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said on Friday that the Cabinet had decided that the anti-hopping bill required “further deliberation” with stakeholders from Barisan Nasional and PN to ensure it could get sufficient support in the Dewan Rakyat.
On this, Lim told delegates at the DAP annual national congress today that there was “some confusion” about the status of the bill.
“The latest parliamentary order paper reveals a tabling for the first reading of the constitutional amendment bill tomorrow in Parliament,” he said.
Lim also said that the MoU could still be “saved” if Ismail could provide some explanation to PH about the fate of the bill when they meet this week.