Pic – Political Analyst and A Lawyer Mohd Ustar Abdul Ghani
By NT
KOTA KINABALU: The newly passed Anti Hopping Law – a landmark legislation in the history of the Sabah legislative assembly, is expected to take effect once the long-awaited law is gazetted.
In between, there is still a window of opportunity for Buhangkot or frog to switch sides.
The frog analogy is used to refer to politicians who tend to hop among political parties.
For some, the Sabah new anti-hopping law – which aims to stop lawmakers from switching political parties – will not guarantee the state’s stability until it is gazetted.
Political Analyst and A Lawyer Mohd Ustar Abdul Ghani said based on the ongoing constitutional practice and provision of the law, the ammendment bill which was unanimously passed in the Legislative Assembly still does not have the force of law.
He said the insertion of Article 17A and deletion of clause 7 of article 6 in the ammendment made will still have to go through the constitutional ritual before it can be legally enforced.
“The ammendment needs to be presented to the Governor for consent.
“What follows after the consent is for the ammendment to be gazetted before it can be enforced and before it can stop the elected assemblymen from switching to another party,” he added.
Ustar said : ‘that process will probably take another few weeks before Sabah sees the effective enforcement of the anti-hop law”.
“And in between that passage Juil Nuatim may not probably be the last defector etched in Sabah’s political history,” he said.
When asked about the Anti Hopping Law recently, Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Malaysia (PKDM) president Datuk Peter Anthony said: “Whoever wants to jump parties better do so now”.
“Even if the Bill is tabled now, it would still take a month or two for it to be gazetted so whoever wants to jump, do so faster,” Peter was quoted as saying.
