LETTER | Former deputy minister and Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh believes that Pakatan Harapan’s next manifesto should include the introduction of an anti-hopping law.

This is a fallacy and gearing for yet another manifesto promise going on unfulfilled. After all, Election Commission chairman Azhar Harun has said that there is a right to freedom of association in our Federal Constitution.

And since there was no loud action when Sabah BN politicians switched sides and formed a Warisan-led state government, nor was there any action when Umno MPs joined Bersatu, her reasons seem rather biased and insincere.

It is as if she and her party think that party-hopping is only a bad thing when it happens to their own to the point of losing government.

At the same time, there seems to be a fear of returning the mandate back to the people. Pakatan Harapan supporters such as S Ambiga even went so far as to scare people by saying that a general election would be too costly.

Who knew there was an actually price limit on wanting a functioning and ethical democracy that goes to get a mandate from the Malaysian people?

In 2023, if the price goes up to RM1 billion, shall we instead just keep our politicians where they are because “it’s too expensive” otherwise?

Here’s how you settle the issue of party-hopping – allow recall elections.

This is how it works – a registered voter in a constituency files a motion with the Election Commission saying they wish to file a recall on their MP. The EC then grants them a time period to collect a certain number of supporters signing the petition.

After said period lapses, the EC looks through the signed petition and sees if they have the numbers and then announces whether or not the MP has to step down or can keep his job. In this manner, all MPs will have a final check and balance in their voters, and the Malaysian people will not have to wait five years to decide whether or not they have elected wrongly.

More importantly, it gives the decision back to the people in their constituency and not to the political parties and coalitions which will be broken up by internal quarrels and crises of faith in succession and leadership.

If political parties are littered with "frogs" they have every right to rouse the people of their constituency and get them to sign the petition for a recall election, but the final say will be the voters themselves - not the politicians, not civil society with a loudhailer screaming “I didn’t vote Muhyiddin” when they’re obviously not from Pagoh, and not someone who backed a unity government simply because a snap election is too expensive.

The people have every right to recall their MPs from any party if they are party jumpers, if they are inept, if they say something so controversial that they lose their voters' support, or even for failing to keep their promise of shutting down Lynas, for example, if they want to – give that decision back to the people rather than having them wait for another five years.

There are more reasons for voter dissent than merely party-hopping, and Yeoh should admit that – and allow the people their ability to call back their MPs from the august house for failing to keep their promises or even staying in their own parties.

Allowing a recall election rather than an anti-hopping law will make ours a fairer democracy for all sides, in not just returning the mandate back to the people for running a coalition of frog-leaping MPs, but also for those lawmakers with no integrity who break their promises to their constituents by promising the sky and delivering bupkis.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.