It is interesting that you quoted your support of a Private Member’s Bill titled Members of Parliament (Prevention of Defection) Act, 1978, when moving a motion in Parliament on March 21, 1978.

Well March 21, 1978 is not March 24th 2008, and you have left it to inference that your view 30 years later – under very changed circumstances of the Opposition taking the offensive in party hopping- is still the same without expressly acknowledging so. Is it however the same???

At this moment I won’t say much on the merits and demerits of this Anti Hopping legislation, which I have commented quite a bit in earlier thread – until I found out the complexities of this issue from various links posted by LadyGodiva!

The interesting part is how does one juggle with the following variables: –

1. DSAI is the one who first brought up this issue of him being approached by several lawmakers in the ruling coalition (in East Malaysia) wanting to defect to his camp; Anwar however did make clear that they were welcome to defect but no bribes would be paid to make them to cross over. His position – and I assume PKR’s position – is that there is nothing wrong in defections per se; he even welcomes them.

2. If arrangements or whatever horse trading involved were afoot between DSAI and certain law makers, they would have to occur after April 15th when DSAI could be eligible to re-enter politics, contest in by-elections to be an mp and take over as Opposition leader: only then it will have the official standing to formalize arrangements with defecting law makers if any.

3. Now one or two defections are no big deal so as far as DSAI is concerned, it has to be en masse and even defection of entire party from BN to make up the gap of 30 seats yawning between BN and BR that will topple the BN now.

4. If by reason of cross over, BN loses simple parliamentary majority of 50% plus one seat to BR, it means that technically the PM can be dismissed and his government could fall. This is because Article 43(3) of the Constitution provides “If the Prime Minister ceases to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the House of Representatives, then, unless at his request, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong dissolves Parliament, the Prime Minister shall tender the resignation of the Cabinet”. What happens then??? Well after all the brouhaha over Terengganu’s MB His Majesty may just perform his constitutional duty to direct the BR to form a caretaker government in the wake of another dissolution of parliament to pave way for another general election to determine which coalition commands clear majority of the Dewan Rakyat! Is that the scenario that BR component parties desire ???

5. The part that is intriguing is if DSAI harbours such intentions why prematurely broadcast to the press, international and local that he had been approached by potential defectors??? By so doing he is only creating conditions for leaders with BR like LKS of DAP or Nik Aziz of PAS to take earlier position supporting Zaid Ibrahim’s proposal of an Anti Hopping laws against crossovers, which of course makes whatever intended in 5 above to be undertaken by BR’s component parties by way of united front more difficult!

6. Yet one needs a united front on BR’s part for the Anti Hopping bill to be introduced by Zaid to be resisted. This is because of the 1992 case of Dewan Undangan Negeri Kelantan v Nordin Salleh which says crossovers are Ok and to stop them is to contravene Constitutional right to freedom of association. Now in order for Anti Hopping law not to infringe the constitution, there must be a constitutional amendment of the Freedom of Association requiring 2/3 majority of the Dewan Rakyat, which BN presently does not have, and would require BR’s MPs to make up the shortfall.

7. So what is DSAI’s plan and equation here in bringing out this topic publicly so early before 15th April and by so doing forces BR’s leaders to take counter productive positions against crossovers??? Can anyone throw some light on this conundrum???

Thanks for the interesting angle, pwcheng. It assumes DSAI is a longer term strategist who can wait 4-5 years and further assumes during which time the BN cannot re-invent and reclaim popularity and will fall in the next GE.

It further assumes what PKR’s Youth chief Shamsul Iskandar Mohamad Akin said at a press conference today, as reported by Malaysiakini, is a red herring and sandiwara. Sahamsul said that “we have up to 15 to 16 MPs from BN, including Umno MPs, who want to join PKR.” Shamsul denied that PKR was offering money to buy over the parliamentarians. Far from encouraging them to defect, he said that the MPs had voluntarily held talks with PKR to discuss crossing over.“We want to relay this message to any BN member of parliament (or state assemblyperson) harbouring hope (for change) and wishing to participate in this new hope for Malaysia: ‘Don’t worry. Be steely in your resolve’, Shamsul said. he claimed that party-hopping was part and parcel of the democratic process…Shamsul confirmed that most of the MPs planning to hop over were from Sabah and Sarawak.

“They have come and met (PKR de facto leader) Anwar Ibrahim because they have lost faith in the leadership of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. They are not crossing over for monetary gains,” he said.