KOTA KINABALU, May 18 — Sabah will be tabling the highly-anticipated anti-party hopping bill during the state assembly sitting next week, said a senior state minister today.
Datuk Christina Liew, who is Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister, said that she believed the Bill would be tabled during the upcoming state assembly sitting.
"My understanding is the Sabah government will table the Bill this coming sitting, and we will support it," said Liew, who is also Api Api assemblyman and Sabah Pakatan Harapan chief.
"The chief minister has mentioned it. I know where the confusion comes from, but it is confirmed, it will be tabled,” she said, adding that PH state assemblymen will support it.
On Tuesday earlier this week, State Assembly Speaker Datuk Kadzim Yahya said that the tabling of the Bill was not on the state assembly agenda for this coming sitting.
Kadzim had informed the media he had received a Private Member's Bill request from opposition leader Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal to table an anti-party hopping law, and was informed by the State government that they also planned to table such a Bill but he had yet to receive it.
Kadzim had explained that since the government was going ahead with the anti-party hopping Bill, he did not see Shafie’s Private Member’s Bill as necessary.
There is pressure on the chief minister to enact such a law in line with the Federal anti-party hopping law which came into force in October last year, just before the general election.
Since then, the state has seen several crossovers from assemblymen including Hajiji, who had led an exodus of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia's Sabah chapter to form a new local party Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah.
Parti Warisan and Sabah Barisan Nasional assemblymen had also switched sides to join parties in the GRS ruling state coalition.
