Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh has warned the newly formed Perikatan Nasional (PN) administration to watch its back in Parliament as it will be facing a highly-experienced Opposition with insider knowledge on federal government affairs.
In an online forum on Facebook titled: “Never Despair — Finding Hope and Rebuilding Malaysia”, the former deputy minister said that the current government can expect a lot of hard questions from across the floor.
“We are an experienced Opposition and we know our stuff. After being in the federal government, we know all the statistics, data and information. We will keep an eye on the government,” said the now Opposition lawmaker.
At the same time, she also called upon voters who felt that they had been cheated of their rightful government from the MPs who had hopped the fence to continue giving pressure to and question their representatives on why they broke their electoral promise.
In particular, Yeoh had called upon constituents from Gombak under Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, Ampang voters, which is represented by Zuraida Kamaruddin, and Indera Mahkota, who had elected Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah.
The three ministers she named were critical in the formation of the PN administration and had allegedly betrayed the Pakatan Harapan coalition as well as PKR.
Azmin, who was then PKR deputy president and his faction of 10 PKR MPs left their party to become independent lawmakers before joining Bersatu the moment the new government was formed.
“So, voters in Gombak, Ampang, Indera Mahkota, Ranau and others don’t allow these MPs to continue to lie. You must demand an answer. We will demand answers when we go back to Parliament,” promised a spirited Yeoh.
Yeoh also said PH lawmakers will make a serious effort to introduce anti-party-hopping laws, adding that this was something that the PH presidential council must look into and implement.
“What the PH leadership council need to discuss and put in place are anti-hopping mechanisms. You cannot just have a stringent process to choose candidates. Look at Saifuddin Abdullah, he wasn’t someone I consider to be at the top of the list (to jump parties).
“So, the only way to ensure no party hoppers is to be very strict,” said Yeoh, alluding that this was something that the party leadership should look into as part of its next election manifesto — as the public has aggressively begun to demand its implementation.
Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil pointed out that Penang already has anti-party-hopping laws at state level and proposed that other PH ruling states should follow suit.
He said if a state representative jumps ship, the individual in question must resign and a by-election must be called.
Dzulkefly also pointed out an amusing situation in the current government’s Cabinet and backbencher line up.
“I see a big paradox over the Ketereh constituency. In the last general election, it was a three-cornered fight there. You had Tan Sri Annuar Musa from Umno-BN, Senator Radzi Jidin from Bersatu using the PKR logo and the PAS candidate Wan Ismail Wan Jusoh.
“Now, all three parties who contested there are in the government with two full ministers. Why? Because of party hopping. So now we must put in place an anti-hopping law,” said Dzulkefly.
Yeoh took up his call and proceeded to challenge the Muhyiddin administration to heed the will of the people and have the courage to introduce the Bill in Parliament.
She added that it is highly likely that Sabah and Selangor will follow Penang’s footsteps and wanted to know if PN will do the same.
“This is a challenge to Tan Sri Muhyiddin’s government. Now based on people’s comments they want anti-hopping laws. So, will Tan Sri Muhyiddin be brave enough to put in anti-hopping laws? For PH, when we campaign, we will do this because this is what disappointed the people,” she promised.