SHAH ALAM - The current Members of Parliament (MPs) supporting Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in the Dewan Rakyat theoretically remains at 147, even though four opposition Members of Parliament have now shifted their support to the unity government.
Former Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Parliament and Law) Tan Sri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said this was because the four Bersatu MPs had merely stated their support for the government, but they had not declared leaving the party or being expelled from party membership.
He said that the laws of the country clearly state that the action of the four MPs from the Perikatan Nasional (PN) in only shifting their support to the unity government from a voting perspective involving government bill proposals did not change their respective political ideologies.
"Such a scenario might be a new convention in the Malaysian Parliament. However, in other countries, this is a common situation where MPs supporting proposals from the opposing bloc will still maintain their respective positions in Parliament.
"They clearly do not violate the Anti-Hopping Law. The decision to switch support for any government bill is the personal right of these representatives and may change in the future," he told Sinar Premium.
So far, the unity government has not yet reached the majority support of two-thirds or 148 MPs, even though the four PN MPs directly strengthen Anwar's position in the Dewan Rakyat.
With the seat of the Kemaman parliamentary constituency still vacant following the Kuala Lumpur High Court's decision to annul the results of the 15th General Election (PGE15) for that area, the support received by PN dropped from 74 to 69 MPs.
However, Wan Junaidi emphasised that all final decisions determining the current status of the four PN representatives lie at the discretion of the Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul.
Wan Junaidi also expected the current seating arrangement of the four PN MPs to be placed at the end of the seating arrangement of the Bersatu MPs or the PN coalition and adjacent to the only independent MP from the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.