Is anti-hopping the solution forward?

How many of us are tired of the uncertainty of our political climate?

Frustrated that the people we’ve voted for did not live up to our expectations.

Frustrated at the betrayal of their willingness to switch sides for their own gain. Or “for the greater good” (whichever you prefer to believe).

Frustrated that this has caused instability in our government, especially as we are still in the middle of a pandemic.

No matter which side you’re on, our politicians have largely contributed to the uncertainty of our economic and political direction today. In a recent survey by the Centre for Governance and Political Studies (Cent-GPS), we now know that around 46% of Malaysians have completely lost interest in politics due to party-hopping. This is a dangerous trend if when looking out for the rise of political dictatorship.

When asked further, 43% of the respondents said that MPs should be banned from running in the next GE if they hopped parties after an election. 34% believed that the MP should lose his seat immediately after hopping.

To put things into perspective, on the Federal level - 40 MPs have changed their allegiances since GE14; at the state level - in 2020 alone, Johor, Melaka, Kedah and most recently, Perak, (that’s 5 out of 14 states) have all changed their Menteri Besar due to party hopping.

In Sabah, a snap state election took place after months of party hopping due to the never-ending power tussle between Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal and Tan Sri Musa Aman. A move that later saw a sharp increase in our COVID-19 cases after we were so close to getting the virus under control.

When so many of our politicians are too busy scheming and frogging in exchange for position and power, less of their time is spent on governing state affairs. In an economic climate that is already strained, we do not need a political crisis of their own doing to interfere with our livelihoods. The time has come for the need introduce a law to curb frogging and hold our MPs accountable from this irresponsible action. Our democracy is not a game of musical chairs.

One option for this is by introducing the Anti-Hopping Law.

This is not a new idea, nor is it directed at any particular party as interests from both side have called for an anti-hopping law before. Lim Kit Siang had proposed for MPs to vacate their seats within 30 days of resigning from their party.

Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said had also proposed a similar bill in 2015. Taking example from other democracies, Singapore’s Article 46 (2) and New Zealand’s Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Act 2018 are both anti-hopping laws that require MPs to vacate their seat should they resign or get expelled from their party to curb frogging. Arguably, the change of allegiance after a general election could be considered a betrayal of trust to the voters as MPs are obligated to represent their best interest.

Another option would be to allow recall elections to take place in the event that an MP changes alliance. This method puts the power back to the voters to directly remove their MP should they decide to do so instead of having to wait for five years. As explained by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), there are two main stages to this processes:

1) A sufficient number of signatures of least 1% of electors of the constituency to launch the recall initiative; 2) Recall voting takings place upon the collection of support by at least 10% of the constituent’s registered voters and verification of signatures by the electoral commission. It could be an effective tool to penalise MPs who are prone to jumping.

Yet another possibility is an idea brought forward by the former de-facto Law Minister, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz. He had suggested for Malaysia to adopt a party-list system where voters vote for a party instead of individuals. This way, if an MP decides to defect, the seat stays within the party, preventing the collapse of a party or a government.

This process also bypasses expensive tax-payer funded by-elections.

Of course, none of these ideas would be magically implemented within the next week. Any proposals to reform and amend the constitution however, must undergo careful process.