KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 — Umno and Barisan Nasional had wanted fresh elections to be held after the Sheraton Move in February 2020 which triggered the Pakatan Harapan government’s collapse, but eventually supported the current Perikatan Nasional administration with the understanding that general elections would be held after one year, Datuk Seri Najib Razak claimed today.

Najib, who was Umno president up to May 2018, said however that the snap polls did not materialise as the government has cited the state of Emergency imposed on Malaysia since January 2021.

"Let me make it clear, and this is an important point, that we, Umno and BN, our position was unambiguous, we wanted Parliament to be dissolved, in order to return the mandate to the rakyat, to the people.

"However the rulers refused, so we were left with no option but to support the current government for one year with the condition that at the expiration of the stipulated time, a fresh election must be held. 

"But since the current government has failed to honour this one-year condition, we are now left with a tyranny of the minority as Parliament cannot be dissolved during the current state of Emergency,” he said in his speech at the Malaysia Democracy Forum today.

"Make no mistake, Malaysia is the only country in the world that has suspended Parliament and suspended the Constitution with the excuse that we need to fight Covid. 

"To make matters worse, the current government gave the excuse that there are too many old people in Parliament — not sure whether it includes me — to refuse holding Parliament sessions despite the Yang di-Pertuan Agong declaring that Parliament can resume during the Emergency.

"As the English would say, bollocks,” he added, in dismissing the reasons given by the current Perikatan Nasional government.

In the same speech, Najib said the Sheraton Move saw a number of people leaving their parties and declaring support for the formation of the current Perikatan Nasional government "under the guise of saving the country and upholding democracy”, but questioned if party-hopping should be practised in Malaysia.

"Party-hopping, while legally permissible, opened the Pandora’s box with the question, should one be able to do something that is legally permissible while knowing that it is morally questionable?” he asked.

While acknowledging that Umno and BN were also part of the Sheraton Move, Najib claimed that Umno was not guided by the aim of preserving power and influence when doing so.

Najib said normalising party-hopping would send the message that it is alright to switch political loyalties as long as it serves the politicians’ purpose, questioning if this is how politicians want the people to remember them by.

Najib claimed that the issue of party-hopping had first surfaced in 2008 when the federal opposition claimed that they had enough parliamentary support to topple the government and urged the prime minister to give up power peacefully, noting however that they had needed to get about 30 more MPs to join their side.

"This trend of enticing MPs to switch sides hasn’t stopped since then. The Sheraton Move was ultimately a manifestation of the disease,” he said, adding that party-hopping must be tackled before there can be any meaningful reforms.

Najib however noted the challenges in establishing anti-hopping rules as those who party hop would cite their right under the Federal Constitution’s Article 10 to freedom of association, but again questioned if what is legally permissible but ethically questionable should be continued.

Highlighting that 40 MPs had to date changed political allegiances since GE14 in 2018 and four states in Malaysia had also changed administrations due to party hoppers, he cautioned that normalising party-hopping would damage both Malaysia’s democratic process and the country as a whole as the political instability created would discourage foreign investments in the country.

He noted that Umno MP Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz had suggested the solution of a party list system to curb party-hopping, where the seat remains with the party if a sitting MP defects to another party and which would then allow the government to stay intact and which would potentially save taxpayers’ money by doing away with the need for by-elections.

In the same speech today, Najib urged for political funding in Malaysia to be made transparent, urging for a law to be introduced to regulate political funding by requiring political parties and MPs to make available records of fundraising activities and people and organisations who donate money to them.

Najib also urged for Malaysia to allow youths aged 18 to vote, suggesting that the delayed implementation of Undi18 or the lowering of the voting age in Malaysia shows that the current government is allegedly insecure and does not trust the younger generation.

"Is the current administration denying their liberty to exercise their rights to choose? If so, isn’t the administration effectively telling our younger generation that they have no say in determining their future?”