COMMENT | As worried by some of us, the anti-hopping law may be derailed due to internal objections from the cabinet. Bersatu and PAS apparently stated their principled support for it but dragged on the details.

Now it has been deferred.

Earlier news suggested that Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob would call for a meeting of MPs and senators on Sunday before the bill (which also contains the amendment to introduce tenure limits for prime ministers) is tabled on Monday.

Can Ismail Sabri, by buying time, build intra-government consensus? Will he not ultimately push Pakatan Harapan to terminate the MOU (memorandum of understanding) and shorten his prime ministership?

Ismail Sabri should boldly allow a conscience/free vote for government MPs – so that Bersatu and PAS parliamentarians can vote against the bill if they so wish – but have the bill passed, nonetheless.

Amending the Federal Constitution needs two-thirds of all 222 members (including the two vacated seats), or 148 seats. And the anti-hopping bill now has at least 155 votes – Harapan’s 90, BN’s 42, GPS’s 18, Pejuang’s four and Muda’s one – or seven votes more than the two-thirds majority.

The likely opponents to some of the clauses would likely be Bersatu’s 32 parliamentarians and PAS’ 17, possibly with some independent MPs and some opposition parties consisting of other parties’...