Mass hopping is still party-hopping, Nazri tells Dr M
Nazri Aziz says concerted efforts must be made to improve the anti-hopping laws in the future so no underhanded tactics are used to entice people to jump ship.
PETALING JAYA: A former law minister has said that allowing mass defections, as proposed by Dr Mahathir Mohamad to help parties form a government, is not right as it is against the anti-hopping bill’s objective.
Nazri Aziz said ideally, MPs and political coalitions should be made to stick to their affiliations for a fixed term of five years to honour the choice made by voters.
“We should make do and be loyal (to the party) regardless of what happens. What difference does it make between one MP hopping and MPs defecting en masse? It is basically an army of frogs jumping,” he said referring to the term used to describe defectors.
He said this in a talk on Astro Awani tonight.
Nazri said the anti-hopping law was a good step to remind all MPs that if they switched parties en masse, then there would be many by-elections.
“Say 30 MPs change parties, then you have 30 by-elections. People will get angry. This has to be a deterrent, forcing the YBs to think a few times before they jump.” he said.
Yesterday, Mahahtir said mass defections involving an entire party to another should be allowed if the party leadership agreed to it.
The former prime minister said this was important in situations where no party won more than 50% of the seats in a general election (GE).
Nazri also agreed with fellow panellist, Warisan president Shafie Apdal, that prior to the anti-hopping bill, party-hopping had become a sort of a “business”. “It has become a money-making profession,” he said.
Shafie said there were Sabah legislators and MPs that had switched parties at least seven to 10 times in the past, wreaking havoc for past state governments. He further claimed that one lawmaker received between RM4 million and RM5 million to defect each time, with the turncoat later pledging to spend the sum on his constituents.
He said in reality, only about RM1 million would be spent on the constituents and the rest would likely be kept in fixed deposits for personal use.
The former Sabah chief minister said this had led to people becoming disillusioned about politicians and their priorities. He said hopefully the anti-hopping bill would put an end to this.
Meanwhile, Nazri said concerted efforts must be made to improve the anti-hopping laws in the future so no underhanded tactics would be used to entice people to jump ship.
Separately, DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke said graft busters should not just look at kickbacks from party-hopping, but also those who were promised positions.
PETALING JAYA: A former law minister has said that allowing mass defections, as proposed by Dr Mahathir Mohamad to help parties form a government, is not right as it is against the anti-hopping bill’s objective.
Nazri Aziz said ideally, MPs and political coalitions should be made to stick to their affiliations for a fixed term of five years to honour the choice made by voters.
“We should make do and be loyal (to the party) regardless of what happens. What difference does it make between one MP hopping and MPs defecting en masse? It is basically an army of frogs jumping,” he said referring to the term used to describe defectors.
He said this in a talk on Astro Awani tonight.
Nazri said the anti-hopping law was a good step to remind all MPs that if they switched parties en masse, then there would be many by-elections.
“Say 30 MPs change parties, then you have 30 by-elections. People will get angry. This has to be a deterrent, forcing the YBs to think a few times before they jump.” he said.
Yesterday, Mahahtir said mass defections involving an entire party to another should be allowed if the party leadership agreed to it.
The former prime minister said this was important in situations where no party won more than 50% of the seats in a general election (GE).
Nazri also agreed with fellow panellist, Warisan president Shafie Apdal, that prior to the anti-hopping bill, party-hopping had become a sort of a “business”. “It has become a money-making profession,” he said.
Shafie said there were Sabah legislators and MPs that had switched parties at least seven to 10 times in the past, wreaking havoc for past state governments. He further claimed that one lawmaker received between RM4 million and RM5 million to defect each time, with the turncoat later pledging to spend the sum on his constituents.
He said in reality, only about RM1 million would be spent on the constituents and the rest would likely be kept in fixed deposits for personal use.
The former Sabah chief minister said this had led to people becoming disillusioned about politicians and their priorities. He said hopefully the anti-hopping bill would put an end to this.
Meanwhile, Nazri said concerted efforts must be made to improve the anti-hopping laws in the future so no underhanded tactics would be used to entice people to jump ship.
Separately, DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke said graft busters should not just look at kickbacks from party-hopping, but also those who were promised positions.
Only an idiot like the old idiot thinks that mass defection is not a defection.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, even if he (old fool) harbours hope of frogs joining Pejuang enmass, he should forget about it as these potential frogs have realised there is no hope in Pejuang.
Actually, it may not be so clear-cut.
ReplyDeleteIn Germany, no party currently has an absolute majority.
The current Chancellor is from the SPD, with backing from the Greens.
It is possible that at some point, the Greens leadership may decide that it is impossible for them to continue in the coalition with the SPD, and negotiate with another party.
Germany, like many countries now more or less fix their election terms, so a snap election is unlikely.
Would that scenario become illegal in Malaysia ?
coalition is different from the Kerala King Kobra's hopping for an entire party
DeleteLet's say, by January 2020, DAP decided it simply could not continue supporting Mahathir due to his repeated reneging on GE14 promises....wakakaka
ReplyDeleteUnder the terms of this Anti Hopping Law, what would the DAP's recourse been ?
breaking up from a coaLITION IS NOT PARTY HOPPING AND THE LAW SAYS SO
Delete