Oh Ei Sun of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs said the act had aimed to remove the prime minister’s discretion in setting an election date, ensuring predictable general election dates and preventing snap polls.
Speaking to FMT, he said it was never meant to prevent MPs from defecting.
“So it will not prevent a recurrence of the Sheraton Move per se, which took place without a parliamentary election,” he said.
The Sheraton Move in 2020 saw the collapse of the first Pakatan Harapan administration after Bersatu left the coalition to form a new government in alliance with a group of MPs from Barisan Nasional.
Lately, speculation has arisen over the so-called Dubai Move, a reference to alleged talks in the United Arab Emirates between opposition leaders and certain government representatives to topple the Anwar Ibrahim administration.
The UK’s Fixed-Term Parliaments Act was introduced in 2011, setting a default fixed date for general elections. However, it was repealed just over a decade later, restoring the prime minister’s power to call for a general election at a time of their choice.
Analyst James Chin of the University of Tasmania questioned the point of introducing the law in Malaysia, saying the UK itself had repealed it in 2022 after finding it “useless”.
“No, it would not stop a Dubai or Sheraton Move because those moves are about the formation of a government by the MP who has the majority on the floor of Parliament.
“(A Fixed-Term Parliaments Act) would not create any impact at all. These are two totally separate issues,” he said.
Azmi Hassan of Akademi Nusantara agreed with Chin that such political manoeuvres were aimed at forming a government through parliamentary procedure, not a general election.
He, too, said that the law would do little to reduce or prevent moves to change the government.
The law was among a package of political reforms put forth by civil society leaders to the government and opposition last month.
Kuala Selangor MP Dzulkefly Ahmad, who is now the health minister, made a similar call in February last year, saying such an act would allow elected governments to serve the full five years of their mandate and curb political instability during that period.
Oh said that in order to put an end to manoeuvres like the Sheraton Move, the anti-hopping law must prohibit MPs from switching camps, whether for or against the prime minister.
However, Chin said this would boil down to the ethics of individual MPs.
“As long as MPs have the right to jump, nothing will stop them. Not even any laws,” he said.