PM to present Anti-Hopping Law bill on Wednesday
SHAH ALAM - Despite being busy with his duties, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob is expected to find time to present the Anti-Hopping Law bill, which prohibits Members of Parliament (MP) from changing parties this Wednesday.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said he was confident that the bill would receive support from all members of Parliament whether from the opposition bloc, government supporters or the Independents.
Wan Junaidi said his confidence was based on the commitment and positive feedback he received from the majority of MPs including from Pakatan Harapan (PH) and government supporters during the engagement sessions made with elected representatives.
Furthermore, Wan Junaidi said, the government had also made thorough preparations and held engagement sessions with various parties including MPs and stakeholders since October last year to enable the drafting process of the bill to run smoothly without any major problems.
"Although the history of our Parliament started almost 70 years ago since Malaysia achieved independence in 1957, no Minister has ever made such preparations to explain to all representatives as I did since October last year.
"In fact, although all parties are aware of the content of the bill, I will still hold a briefing and engagement session with all MPs from the opposition bloc and government supporters as well as Independents on July 25 and 26 to explain once again regarding that matter," he told Sinar Premium
Wan Junaidi said the main purpose of the engagement session was to explain to all members of Parliament about the drafting process of a bill and why it was not presented on July 18 (Monday) as recently raised by Dewan Rakyat’s members.
In fact, Wan Junaidi said he was happy because in general, all the members of Parliament he met fully supported the presentation of the bill.
"Although we faced a few problems as raised by the Cabinet Meeting, everything was successfully resolved after the establishment of the Special Select Committee of the Parliament chaired by myself, a representative of the government and the opposition party, recently.
"In fact, the 'Pre-Council' Session Meeting before the recent Parliament session suggested that the Prime Minister himself should present the second reading of the two bills in question in Dewan Rakyat on July 27," he said.
Wan Junaidi said after the presentation of the bill, the Speaker was expected to order the motion for it to be debated by the MPs for two days – on Wednesday and Thursday.
"The question of how many and the period of time allotted to each Member of Parliament to debate the bill, I’ll leave it to the Speaker to decide.
"However, I will wrap up and answer all the questions raised by all Members of Parliament at the debate session on the bill from 2.30pm and hope it can be resolved at around 5pm, Thursday," he said.
Asked about the fate of Independent MPs after the bill was approved by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and gazetted later, Wan Junaidi said the law would apply to elected representatives who left the party after the effective date.
"According to this bill, any Independent Member of Parliament now remains independent and does not need to vacate their respective seats because they left the party before the law was passed by the Dewan Rakyat, Dewan Negara, approved by the Agong and gazetted by the government.
"However, if the Independent MPs contest on the ticket of any party after this and then return as an independent, they will be trapped or bound by the bill later.
"This means that after this bill is gazetted, all elected representatives must remain with the original party they contested in the next election," he said
