PETALING JAYA: DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng has urged Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to call for the next general election (GE15) after all the states have amended their state constitutions by enacting the anti-hopping law.
He said this was to ensure “uniformity, consistency and certainty across all states”.
“There shouldn’t be a different set of laws between the respective states and the Federal Constitution,” he said in a statement.
“The country’s political framework should be cleansed from dishonest opportunists.”
Lim said he had discussed with opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who agreed that the three states under Pakatan Harapan (PH) – Selangor, Penang and Negeri Sembilan – would amend their respective state constitutions to incorporate the anti-hopping law.
“Ismail should also give the same commitment and direct state governments under the Barisan Nasional/Perikatan Nasional umbrella to also amend their respective state constitutions to enact the anti-hopping law,” he said.
He also pointed out that law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar had indicated that the amendment to the Federal Constitution may be gazetted by next month after the Dewan Negara sits on Aug 9 to pass the constitutional amendments.
Yesterday, the Dewan Rakyat unanimously passed the historic anti-hopping bill through a bloc vote.
A total of 209 MPs voted in favour of the bill. Eleven MPs were absent.
The tabling of the anti-hopping bill is one of the key conditions of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Ismail and PH.
Under the bill, MPs will lose their seats if they choose to jump to another party. Exceptions will be provided for MPs who are sacked by their party or if their party is dissolved or deregistered.
An MP who is elected as the Dewan Rakyat Speaker will also be exempted from the law.
The bill required a two-thirds majority, or the support of at least 148 MPs, in the Dewan Rakyat, to amend Article 10 (1)(c) of the Federal Constitution.
