PETALING JAYA: PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang today said the anti-hopping bill needs more study and should not be rushed.
“This requires interpretation as it should be a fight to save the rakyat, not to save oneself,” he said.
Party-hopping could be condoned if there was a valid reason but worthy of being condemned if carried out for the wrong reasons.
“The law needs to be studied. There’s no need to act in haste and we are not in a hurry in this issue,” he said, according to the party organ Harakah.
Hadi said PAS itself had been a victim of party-hopping, with the state governments of Kelantan and Terengganu having fallen due to turncoats in 1960.
He said the party had resolved this issue with “bai’ah” (pledge of allegiance) for election candidates; those who leave after being elected are to resign their seats or risk being “cursed” by Allah.
Asked about claims that Bersatu was delaying the bill over some objections, Hadi said the matter required further discussion.
Bersatu has denied it was against the bill. Hadi said: “Personally, I was not told about any turmoil within Bersatu over this issue. Perhaps it is only a matter of differences in opinion,” Berita Harian reported.
The government has deferred the tabling of the anti-hopping bill, which was scheduled for a special parliamentary sitting on April 11, after objections from Cabinet members. It was reported that the government wanted to iron out pertinent matters such as the definition of “party-hopping”.
The April 11 parliamentary meeting will go ahead with the tabling of a constitutional amendment to facilitate the tabling of the anti-hopping bill.
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