Undang-undang anti lompat wajib diluluskan pada sidang parlimen akan datang (Malay/English)

Gabungan Pilihan Raya Bersih dan Adil (Bersih) menyatakan kebimbangan kami terhadap kenyataan Menteri Undang-Undang Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar bahawa masih lagi belum ada kata sepakat bagi terma “lompat parti” kerana setiap parti mempunyai tafsiran sendiri berkenaan makna dan ruang lingkupnya.

Beliau menyebutkan perkara ini dalam segmen Agenda Astro Menstabilkan Demokrasi di Malaysia pada 15 Februari 2022.

Kami juga kesal dengan penundaan mesyuarat libat urus bersama pertubuhan masyarakat sivil (CSO) yang dikelola oleh menteri undang-undang pada 17 Februari kerana peningkatan kes Covid.

Bersih dan CSO yang lain sangat ternanti peluang untuk bertemu dengan kementerian tersebut dan Jabatan Peguam Negara untuk membincangkan cadangan-cadangan pembaharuan termasuk draf undang-undang anti-lompat.

Bersih berharap kenyataan Wan Junaidi dan penangguhan libat urus ini bukanlah dalih kerajaan untuk tidak melaksanakan pembaharuan dan penambahbaikan mustahak sebelum pilihan raya umum akan datang.

Meluluskan satu undang-undang untuk mencegah lompat parti secepat mungkin adalah antara terma utama dalam Memorandum Persefahaman transformasi dan kestabilan politik (MoU) yang ditandatangan oleh kerajaan Ismail Sabri Yaakob dan Pakatan Harapan pada 13 September 2021.

Komitmen kerajaan dan blok pembangkang terbesar di Parlimen untuk melaksanakan undang-undang ‘anti-lompat’, Undi 18, penggal perdana menteri dua penggal, pembaharuan parlimen dan beberapa pembaharuan lagi adalah sangat asasi untuk menstabilkan politik serta memperkasakan demokrasi kita.

Bersih faham isu lompat parti adalah isu yang kompleks dengan pelbagai tafsiran, perundangan, pertimbangan antara parti dan pilihan raya, tetapi untuk mencari penyelesaian sempurna adalah hampir mustahil.

Kami juga berpandangan pasca Langkah Sheraton, di mana lompat parti telah menyebabkan keruntuhan kerajaan persekutuan sebanyak dua kali dan secara langsung atau tidak langsung mencetuskan perubahan di lapan kerajaan negeri dalam masa dua tahun, penggubalan undang-undang ini sangat penting untuk mencegah lompat parti di Malaysia bagi mengembalikan kestabilan politik, malah lebih utama kepercayaan rakyat kepada demokrasi kita.

Pada pandangan kami, perkara berikut secara asasnya perlu dipertimbangkan sebagai lompat parti bagi undang-undang anti-lompat:

• Wakil rakyat meninggalkan partinya untuk menyertai parti lain atau menjadi bebas
• Wakil rakyat bebas menyertai parti politik
• Wakil rakyat meletakkan jawatan secara sukarela daripada parti dan/atau kerusi
• Wakil rakyat dipecat oleh partinya

Dalam undang-undang anti-lompat tradisional, sekiranya perkara di atas terjadi, kerusi mereka akan diisytiharkan kosong secara automatik dan pilihan raya kecil akan berlangsung.

Bersih bagaimanapun lebih cenderung kepada undang-undang anti-lompat melalui prosedur pecat, yang tidak akan secara automatik mengosongkan kerusi pelompat parti tetapi menyediakan prosedur untuk pengundi pelompat parti mengosongkan kerusi tersebut.

Hal ini akan mengelakkan tiga asas undang-undang anti-lompat yang berbahaya:

• pertama, pimpinan parti mungkin menghapuskan saingan dalaman parti dengan memecatnya daripada parti dan secara berkesan daripada Parlimen
• kedua, kuasa ini akan menjadikan ahli Parlimen menjadi pengikut buta kepada ketua mereka, dan Parlimen menjadi pak turut kepada sebarang perdana menteri yang mempunyai sokongan majoriti tunggal dalam kerajaan
• ketiga, sistem parti akan dibekukan dengan mencegah kemunculan parti baru akibat perpecahan politik dalam parti sedia ada seperti Amanah, Bersatu dan Warisan pada 2015-16

Walaubagaimanapun, kami akan menyokong cadangan undang-undang anti-lompat kerajaan namun dengan harapan perkara berikut akan diselesaikan:

• Mansuhkan Perkara 48(6) di mana wakil rakyat yang meletakkan jawatan daripada kerusinya dihalang untuk bertanding selama lima tahun. Hal ini akan memberi laluan kepada wakil rakyat untuk meletakkan jawatan kerana prinsip daripada partinya dan bertanding di kerusi yang sama untuk mendapat mandat baru daripada pengundi. Sekiranya Perkara ini tidak dimansuhkan, wakil rakyat akan berhadapan penghinaan dipecat sebelum dibenarkan bertanding semula
• Negeri perlu diberikan kebebasan untuk menggubal undang-undang anti-lompat sendiri, sama ada anti-lompat tradisional, anti-lompat melalui prosedur pecat seperti cadangan Bersih dan Ahli Parlimen Pengerang Azalina Said Othman, atau kaedah lain. Sehingga kini, pindaan Perkara 10 untuk membenarkan sekatan kebebasan berpersatuan kerana lompat parti perlu disekalikan “perlembagaan negeri” disamping “Perlembagaan Persekutuan”. Pada masa yang sama, Jadual Kelapan Perlembagaan Persekutuan tidak perlu dipinda untuk memaksa salinan karbon undang-undang anti-lompat tradisional Perlembagaan Persekutuan kepada negeri.

Bersih menggesa menteri undang-undang dan kerajaan Perdana Menteri Ismail Sabri untuk membentangkan usul undang-undang anti-lompat ini pada sidang parlimen 28 Februari ini dan memastikan usul ini menjadi undang-undang selepas mengambil input daripada ahli Parlimen, CSO dan orang ramai.

Kelulusan undang-undang anti-lompat akan mengembalikan keyakinan rakyat kepada sistem pilihan raya dan memberi sebab untuk mereka keluar mengundi pada pilihan raya umum akan datang. – Bersih

English version

The anti-defections law must be passed in the coming parliament sitting

The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) views with concern the remarks of the law minister, Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, that there is still no consensus on the term “anti-hopping” as each political party may have their own definition of what it means and what it covers.

He said this in a segment on Astro Agenda’s Stabilising Malaysia’s Democracy on 15 February 2022.

We are also disappointed that a consultation meeting with civil society organisations (CSOs) called by the law minister for 17 February has been postponed due to the high number of Covid cases.

Bersih and other CSOs were looking forward to engaging with the minister’s department and the Attorney General’s Chambers over a whole range of reform proposals, including the draft for the ‘anti-hopping’ [to curb party defections] law.

Bersih hopes that Wan Junaidi’s remark and the postponement of the consultation meeting is not a signal that the government is having second thoughts about pushing through some important reforms before the coming general election.

The passing of a law to prevent or deter ‘party-hopping’ as soon as possible is one of the key terms of the Memorandum of Understanding for transformation and political stability (MoU) signed between the Ismail Sabri Yaakob government and Pakatan Harapan on 13 September 2021.

The commitment of the government and the largest opposition bloc in parliament to implement the ‘anti-hopping’ law, Undi 18 [the lowering of the minimum voting age to 18], a prime ministerial two-term limit, parliamentary reform and a range of other reforms are important not only to stabilise politics but also to strengthen our democracy.

Bersih acknowledges that the issue of party-hopping is a complex one with many definitions, legal, intra-party and electoral considerations, and to find a perfect solution is near impossible.

But we also believe that – in the wake of the Sheraton Move, where ‘party-hopping’ caused the collapse of the federal government twice and directly or indirectly triggered the change of eight state governments in the last two years – the enactment of a law to prevent party-hopping in Malaysia is an absolute necessity to restore political stability and even more important than that, the confidence of the Malaysian public in our democracy.

In our opinion, at its most basic, the following would be considered as ‘party-hopping’ for the anti-hopping law:

• An elected representative leaving his or her party to join another party or going independent
• An independent representative joining a political party
• An elected representative resigning on his or her own volition from the party and/or seat
• An elected representative sacked by his or her party

If any of the above took place, the seat would be declared vacant automatically and a by-election called under a traditional ‘anti-hopping’ law.

Bersih’s preference is an anti-hopping recall law, which will not automatically vacate the ‘party-hopper’s’ seat but provide a recall procedure for the party-hopper’s constituents to vacate the seat.

This would avoid the traditional anti-hopping law’s three fundamental pitfalls due to its rigidity:

• first, a party leader may eliminate his/her intra-party rivals by sacking them from the party and effectively from Parliament
• second, such power can make MPs blind followers of their party leaders, and Parliament a rubber stamp for any prime minister who commands a single-bloc majority government
• third, it would freeze the party system by preventing the emergence of new parties – due to a genuine political divide in existing parties – such as Amanah, Bersatu and Warisan in 2015-6

Nonetheless, we will support the enactment of the proposed anti-hopping law but hope that the following concerns are addressed:

• Article 48(6) where a representative who resigned from his or her seat is barred from contesting for five years be repealed. This would allow a representative to resign as a matter of principle from his or her party and contest for the same seat to get a fresh mandate from voters. If this Article is not repealed, the representative would have to face the indignity of being sacked before being allowed to recontest
• The states should have the freedom to enact their own anti-hopping laws, whether the traditional anti-hopping law, the anti-hopping recall law proposed by Bersih and Pengerang MP Azalina Said Othman, or any other design. To this end, the amendment to Article 10 to allow a restriction on freedom of association over party-hopping must include “state constitutions” alongside “the Federal Constitution”. At the same time, the Eighth Schedule of the Federal Constitution should not be amended to force a carbon copy of the federal Parliament’s traditional anti-hopping law onto the states

Bersih calls on the law minister and the government of PM Ismail Sabri to table the proposed anti-hopping law at this coming parliament sitting on 28 February and ensure that it becomes law after taking into consideration the input of MPs, CSOs and the public.

The passage of the anti-hopping law would restore public confidence in our electoral system and give voters a reason to come out and vote in the coming general election. – Bersih

The views expressed in Aliran's media statements and the NGO statements we have endorsed reflect Aliran's official stand. Views and opinions expressed in other pieces published here do not necessarily reflect Aliran's official position.

AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama

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