Pakatan Harapan’s long hard fight is over! The Anti-Hopping Bill has successfully been inscribed into law thanks to the historical Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) deal with the federal government. The bill was passed on Thursday, 28th July 2022 as a product of consistent push by the DAP to address concerns of Members of Parliaments hopping parties triggering the famously dubbed ‘Sheraton Move’ which caused an unprecedented change in government without the rakyat’s mandate.

The Dewan’s roll call which consisted of 209 yay and 11 absent, with notably all DAP members supporting the bill. The bill is the latest example of Pakatan Harapan’s success story in forwarding a united front for the betterment of the country’s democracy and restoring confidence for the next general election. It is worth mentioning that since the move, none of the 42 DAP’s MPs have jumped ship.

Secretary-General of the DAP, Anthony Loke said that with inscribing of the Anti Hopping Bill, this will prove that by Pakatan Harapan agreeing to an MoU with the government, it is not because they are selling their principles away, but it is to promote a reform agenda that can protect the sanctity of the rakyat’s vote.

Historically, the Anti-Party Hopping Bill has been championed by DAP members such as MP for Iskandar Puteri, Lim Kit Siang and former MP for Bukit Gelugor, the late Karpal Singh since the 1970s. This is because the DAP were the first to be victimised by party hopping when in 1969, almost half of the DAP members that won a seat in the general election had hopped to another party. In truth, other opposition parties have also been victimised by party hopping, hence solidifying the reason why several DAP MPs advocated for this act as it gives structural protection to the electoral process.

In one part of Lim Kit Siang’s speech in Parliament advocating for an Anti-Hopping law on the 21st March 1978, he says that “Nothing disgusts the Malaysian public more than to see MPs or State Assemblyman elected on one party’s ticket and then betray the Party and the people’s trust by switching parties. This makes them very little different from con-men. Such practices debase politics, and strengthen the general impression that ‘politics is dirty’, when it is the dirty people who get into politics to make politics dirty”

Truly, the Transformation and Political Stability MoU between Pakatan Harapan and the federal government is a resounding victory for PH and the rakyat.

A tremendous achievement for all Malaysians!