Anti-hopping law have been passed unanimously in the parliament yesterday with two-third majority support. This will be a breakthrough towards political reform and put an end for the continuous political crisis in Malaysia as how aspired by many political parties including the public. Because the absence of the law have done enough damage to our political instability for the past 2 years following with the Sheraton Move. Therefore from now on, there will be actions taken on the politicians that would try to cause disruption for the government.

In Johor, the sudden by-election announcement just reached its climax whereby two-third seats were won by Barisan Nasional component parties. Even though it was held to ensure the stability, the public were quite sceptical about the need of having an election while the Covid-19 and economy crisis ongoing. It resulted in lower voters turnout and many complained about the cost accounted for the by-election. In fact, it’s the tax payers money and they ought to have the rights to question it.

Hence, we have to ensure the bill that has been proposed to the federal government doesn’t contradict with the state government. Hereby, I suggest to our Johor Chief Minister, YB Datuk Onn Hafiz to put his special attention towards anti party-hopping law to be enacted into our state law by incorporating with the federal law in order to avoid future uncertainty during a political crisis.

The de facto 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 August 9th 2022 to pass the constitutional amendments. The state chief minister can also instruct the state legal advisor to look into this matter to ensure the certainty of our state government in future. I believe that all state representatives of Johor state assembly regardless of political parties would be glad to support the bill to be enacted in our state constitution in order to form a strong and stable state government. There should be no place for opportunistic politicians in our political framework.

I would also like to suggest that the chief minister should also schedule a special meeting together with the members of Johor state assembly to table and discuss about the anti-party hopping law. By enacting the law in Johor state constitution, we can ensure a stable government which would be majorly recognised by potential investors and businesses to be expanded in our state.

YB Tuan Arthur Chiong Sen Sern
ADUN Bukit Batu