Kota Kinabalu: Parti Warisan President Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal said he will review the content of the proposed Anti-Hop Bill that will be tabled in the current State Legislative Assembly session.
He said the Bill’s content must be examined so that it can be improved to prevent administrative instability.
“We will look into the content. I cannot say at this time because of the embargo, but I will study it thoroughly, paragraph by paragraph.
I will also look into whether or not the proposed Bill will repeal the Sabah State Constitution.
“As I was saying before, the most important thing is that it be made better. This Bill was previously in effect in Sabah before it was repealed, and it is now also present at the federal level.
“I advocated for changes to be made to the laws at the parliamentary level in order to keep the country’s administration stable, and I think it is important that the Constitution be updated so that it reflects the current situation on the peninsula.
“I studied the Bill together with the law that has been practised in Penang and the Private Motion that we proposed at the initial stage is to refine the existing proposal,” he told a press conference at Warisan headquarters in Kolombong.
He said there is no issue of the opposition rejecting the Bill and that they are pleased by the news announced by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajii Noor.
“But I intend to debate many of the points raised in the Private Motion. Please do not see this as the opposition voting down the Bill.”
“We will conduct a thorough study of its content and engage in debate. Since it will entail amending the State Constitution, the amendment needs to be approved by the Assembly with a two-thirds vote.”
“Even if there was a certificate from the Head of State, but the two-thirds have not endorsed, it cannot become law,” he said.
The Senallang Assemblyman also pointed out that the opposition is not as desperate as some parties have made it seem.
“We were not informed this will be tabled at this sitting. If the Speaker himself was not informed, what more me as an assemblyman?
“We want to correct what Hajiji said, the information was not conveyed to us, and the Speaker last week also stated that it was not on the agenda,” said Shafie.
