KOTA KINABALU: The passing of the anti-party hopping law in the Sabah Legislative Assembly has been heralded as a new era that will usher in political stability, with Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor declaring that “Sabah’s history of party hopping will be a thing of the past”.
“We don’t have to worry every day about assemblymen jumping,” he told reporters after the assembly unanimously passed the Sabah anti-party hopping Bill on Thursday.
But the question remains: will politicians find ways to circumvent the law in Sabah, which has seen the ouster of governments as well as the formation of new ones through party hopping in the past 60 years?
Political observers, for one, believe that they will likely find novel ways to cross floors without being seen as doing so.
“There will be those who seek loopholes if they would like to change governments. If there is a will, there is a way,” said long-time Sabah political observer Dr Oh Ei Sun.
The newly minted anti-defection law, he added, would appear to frustrate party hopping by mandating that elected assemblypersons vacate their seats if they switch parties.
“It remains to be seen if this will necessarily frustrate their efforts to change government, as the change could be effectuated without switching parties by simply switching their support for whom to be Chief Minister.
“Switching party affiliation is not the paramount concern here. It is the switching of support for a government or a chief minister that matters.
“As no single party is likely to command an outright majority in the assembly nowadays, it is rather superfluous,” said Oh, a senior fellow with the Singapore Institute on International Affairs.
The passing of the amendment to the state constitution, which allows for the adoption of the anti-party hopping law, was overshadowed by the removal of Article 6(7), a clause that provides a guide for the governor to appoint a chief minister after an election.
The Article, dubbed the “anti-power grab” law, was introduced in 1990 by the Parti Bersatu Sabah government to stop losing parties from forming a government by utilising six nominated assemblymen to attain a “majority”, a feature unique to Sabah’s legislative assembly.
The deletion of Article 6(7) was tabled together with the anti- party hopping Bill, with 75 of the 79 assemblymen present giving their backing for the anti-party hopping amendment tabled by Hajiji.
However, 14 Warisan assemblymen did not support the amendment for the removal of Article 6(7), which was nonetheless passed when all 61 government assemblymen from Gabungan Rakyat Sabah and Pakatan Harapan, as well as Sabah Barisan Nasional, voted in favour.
Hajiji had earlier explained that the rationale behind removing Article 6(7) was that it was no longer relevant to the appointment of the chief minister under Article 6(3) due to the current political situation.
He added that the amendment would give the governor more leeway in deciding who to pick as chief minister.
Clause 7 is seen as a guide for the Yang di-Pertua Negeri in his decision to appoint a chief minister, which by convention is the leader of the party with the majority or most seats in the assembly.
Sabah Universiti Teknologi Mara senior lecturer Tony Paridi Bagang said as a result of the removal of Article 6(7), a party would not necessarily need to contest or win many seats, as that alone would not guarantee its leader would become the chief minister.
“This opens up the opportunity for any assemblyman to become the chief minister without (necessarily) being the leader of a party with the majority,” he said.
“It’s more driven and motivated by personality factors (such as leadership), and the job may go to the candidate who is able to convince and command the majority (support) in the state assembly.”
