Law minister says ‘on track’ to tackle party-hopping, AGC told to start final draft to amend Constitution

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 23 — Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar has reportedly said that he is “on track” to table the law banning party-hopping by mid-March.

A report by the The Star today quoted Wan Junaidi as saying that the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) had been told yesterday to begin the final drafting of several proposed constitutional amendments to tackle the issue — which he expects to be passed by the end of the next Parliament sitting from February 28 to March 24.

“Instead of enacting a new set of laws which may have their constitutionality challenged in court, we are looking at the Constitution itself as the basis to stop party hopping once and for all.

“I am still on track to table the amendments by mid-March,” he reportedly said.

According to the report, the proposed amendments involve Articles 48 and 54 of the Federal Constitution, which comprise laws regarding the disqualification of Members of Parliament and the filling of vacancies in the Senate.

Wan Junaidi was also quoted as saying that after several engagement sessions with stakeholders, which included lawmakers, the feedback received from them has been satisfactory for the bipartisan Technical committee that was recently introduced to look into party hopping.

“We are not just looking at the disqualification of those who party-hop but also to stop their appointments to fill casual vacancies in the Senate,” he reportedly said, while affirming that there will be no corporal punishment against party-hoppers.

Last week, Wan Junaidi announced that the timeline for tabling proposed anti party-hopping laws had been fast tracked from its initial timeline of July.

He had also announced the setting up of a bipartisan Technical Committee with four representatives from the federal government and four representatives from Pakatan Harapan (PH).

These moves are in line with the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the government and PH in September last year, which had a large focus on ensuring political stability through bipartisan cooperation.