July 10, 2022

Law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar expects the anti-hopping law to be implemented by the end of September.

He said the law to discourage party-hopping by elected representatives should be gazetted by then, reiterating that the bill would be tabled on the first day of the next parliamentary sitting next Monday, The Borneo Post reported.

“As far as the laws are concerned, it is ready to be presented. I have a timeline and it will be laid on the table on July 18,” he was quoted as saying by the Sarawak daily.

Wan Junaidi said he was optimistic that the bill would be successfully debated and passed in the Dewan Rakyat. 

However, he refused to comment if the next general election (GE15) would take place before the anti-hopping law was enforced.

Wan Junaidi was previously reported to have said that he hoped the anti-hopping bill would be tabled and implemented before GE15.

FMT had reported recently that a handful of Cabinet “warlords” were trying to stall the bill from being passed before GE15 as an “insurance” for them to be able to switch parties after the polls to continue remaining in power.

Wan Junaidi also implied that Parliament had the discretion to approve the bill without the Cabinet’s nod, as it had taken over the duty to refine the bill after the appointment of the parliamentary select committee (PSC).

According to The Borneo Post, he said the PSC was “an instrument of Parliament and therefore, not answerable to the executive branch”.

Wan Junaidi added, however, that he would leave it to Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to obtain consensus from the Cabinet.

The anti-hopping law was one of the main conditions stipulated under the memorandum of understanding between Putrajaya and Pakatan Harapan last September.

It was supposed to be tabled last March but was delayed.

Related news:

Wan Junaidi expects anti-hopping law to be in force by end-September