Table anti-hopping bill or we’ll take to the streets, says Mat Sabu

Mohamad Sabu (PH-Kota Raja) has again urged the government to table the anti-hopping bill in today’s Dewan Rakyat meeting, warning that opposition members will take to the streets if Putrajaya fails to do so.

(FMT) – In debating the Supplementary Supply Bill (2021) 2022, the Amanah president said the nation’s political climate has been unstable ever since the Sheraton Move in 2020 which led to the fall of the Pakatan Harapan government.

This drove people to lose their trust in Malaysia’s parliamentary democracy, which Mohamad said was evidenced by the low voter turnouts in recent state elections.

“The people have lost confidence in the parliamentary democratic system and in elected representatives. To fix this, the tabling of the anti-hopping bill must be expedited.

“If the bill isn’t introduced in this Dewan Rakyat meeting, my friends and I will take to the streets to push for it.

“It’s like we’re being ignored when we speak in Parliament.

“Immediately table the anti-hopping bill. This is the last warning from us,” he said in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Mohamad also said the current Ismail Sabri Yaakob-led administration was akin to a family warring against itself, despite living in the same house, with leaders in the government bloc threatening one another openly.

“I don’t even know what to call this government – is it a Barisan Nasional or Perikatan Nasional government?”

He said the unstable nature of the current government was a deterrent for foreign investors, dealing a blow to Malaysia’s economy.

Nazri: Have special sitting to pass anti-hopping Bill

Mohamad’s call for the anti-hopping Bill to be tabled immediately received the support of Nazri Aziz (BN-Padang Rengas).

“I support his call but only 80%, not 100%, because in his speech he said the BN and PN are the sources of political instability.

“But we all know that it was Pakatan Harapan that was unstable in the first place.

“I don’t deny that there are clashes between BN and PN, but it is not to the extent of leading to the collapse of the government.

“The PH government collapsed. So don’t blame us (Umno and BN) for the political instability.

“Umno and BN had said that we can stay as the opposition throughout the five years (of PH rule). But the clashes between them (PH component parties) led to political instability.”

Nazri said he was confident that the anti-hopping Bill would get the majority support if tabled in the Dewan Rakyat.

“For me, it is important for the Bill to be tabled first. If the Bill is imperfect, we can amend it at the committee stage.

“I am sure this law will get 100% support from the MPs unless some of them want to be frogs — but that is only a minority of them.

“Even if there is a need for a constitutional amendment to achieve this, I am confident we will get two-thirds support.

“I call upon the Cabinet not to think too much on tabling this Bill. We have a memorandum of understanding with the opposition. If we cannot table this Bill in this Dewan sitting, we can always have a special session for this.

“We can’t allow party-hopping to go on — it is embarrassing.”