How firm is PH on anti-hopping?

“Why take in two ‘frogs’ if you’re serious about national anti-hopping law?”

By Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy



HOW serious is the Government and Opposition in ending party hopping?

The last two or three years must have been certainly the golden age of human frogs in the country.

They not only brought down the popularly-elected Pakatan Harapan (PH) government but recently undermined the state government of Melaka as well.

This defection led to the call for a state election that is scheduled on Nov 20, 2021.

The phenomenon of party-hopping or “frogging” from one party to another was not considered serious in the early years of the political history of the country.

Only the dominant party such as UMNO or Barisan Nasional (BN) could entice opposition members to defect with temptations of power, position and money.

However, due to all the inter-party rivalry that had been happening lately between UMNO and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), party-hopping is taking place quite frequently.

In fact, the frequency of party-hopping has somewhat diluted the meaning attached to the concept.

For a while it was from UMNO to Bersatu, but that has stopped.

The reverse might be taking place.

This is an indication that Bersatu is slowly and surely losing its political clout as the representative of the Malays.

However, things were different in the last few years, where party-hopping or switching allegiance has involved not just parties but political coalitions.

The usual factors operate as to why politicians jump from one party to another.

Morality and ethics are fast becoming rarities in political circles.

The question of survival in the turbulent world of politics and the enticement of material rewards are far too alluring to avoid.

The frequency of switching allegiance has become very common in many ways, thus giving the impression that the political and ideological differences between political parties have narrowed down considerably.

American political scientist Francis Fukuyama was right when he commented some years back that we are witnessing the end of history.

He meant not the end of history literally, but the slow and inevitable end to ideological differences between political organisations.

If the “frogs” could bring down the legitimate PH government in early 2020, then one can imagine the impact of frogging on the political direction of the country.

MahaKatakpuroo

Such diabolical practice shatters the principle as to why men and women come together for a common good.

While it was not the intention of the four dissidents to bring about an election in Melaka, the move to bring down the Government led to the unintended consequence of triggering the state election.

The PH government might have been brought down by the movement of the frogs, but the coalition has its share of the blame.

It was the tacit approval of the PH government that had enabled the then-prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammed to entice UMNO leaders into Bersatu, thus setting the stage for the eventual collapse of the government.

Mahathir had a primary role in the collapse of the PH government.

MahaAssassinatorKerala

His holier-than-thou attitude merely conceals the fact that he was the worst prime minister the country has ever had.

Mahathir was for anything but democracy and justice.

One of the main reasons that had motivated the PH to enter into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Perikatan Nasional (PN) Government was to enable a federal legislation to put an end to party-hopping.

MahaDumbo - wanted to embrace Moo-Moo's MOU, ecstatic when embracing Sabri's MOU

Although nothing concrete has been done to bring the legislation, it is believed that such a law will finally put an end to the constant threats of party-hopping that had plagued political parties particularly within the Opposition.

However, although PH had been in the forefront of the move to bring about a national legislation, there are doubts as to why Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) – and the PH coalition in general – had decided to accept the two Melaka state assemblymen who defected from the ruling parties.

If PH is dead serious about a national anti-hopping law, then why take in the two members who defected to bring down the Government?

In other words, it is easier to preach about the immorality of party-hopping than actually engage in acts that don’t endorse this nefarious practice.

Thus, by accepting the two party hoppers, PH has undermined its objective of bringing about a national legislation.

If party-hopping is a serious threat that it has the potential to bring down popularly-elected national and state government, the time has certainly arrived to put an end to this scourge.

However, during times of intense politicking, party-hopping might be construed as something advantageous for various reasons.

This explains why party-hopping was not taken seriously for a long time, especially by those in power.

The anti-hopping legislation might be an important item in the MoU, but the question is whether the government of the day is serious in its willingness to pursue this to its logical conclusion.

The other question is, how firm is PH on this matter? – Nov 11, 2021


Ramasamy Palanisamy is the state assemblyperson for Perai. He is also deputy chief minister II of Penang.