Malaysia runs the risk of falling into another period of political turmoil, experts say, following a controversial ruling in parliament to allow opposition lawmakers to retain their seats after they were sacked by their parties for switching allegiances.
Parliament’s speaker, Johari Abdul, was widely criticised for his decision last week to allow six former members of the opposition party Bersatu to keep their seats, a ruling that the opposition and civil society groups said went against the spirit of the anti-party hopping provisions in the federal constitution passed to curtail political instability.
Perikatan Nasional (PN), the Malay-nationalist opposition bloc that includes Bersatu, launched an armband campaign in parliament this week in protest of the speaker’s decision.
PN lawmaker Ermieyati Samsudin explained that they were wearing white ribbons around their left arms “as a protest against reformati”– a play on the ruling Pakatan Harapan coalition’s slogan of “reformasi”, meaning reform in Malay, that sounds like “death of reform”.
Despite the protest, Islamist party PAS, another PN member, was quick to capitalise on the precedent set by Johari. On Tuesday, it announced the entry of a Malacca state elected representative from ruling coalition partner Umno into their fold.
Tuesday’s announcement was the first such case of an elected representative switching camps since a 2020 political coup that brought down the government of two-time prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.
“PAS was obviously testing the limits of the anti-hopping laws and it was also a response to the speaker’s decision. So this is PAS’ way to ensure discussion on the decision goes on,” political analyst Adib Zalkapli told This Week in Asia.
PAS, which is the single largest party in parliament, said on Tuesday that it was the right time to announce the entry of Muhamad Jailani Khamis, a state assemblyman from Malacca’s Rembia constituency, into the party.
Takiyuddin Hassan, the party’s secretary general, said Jailani had already joined PAS in June last year, well before the Malacca state assembly passed amendments to the state constitution that enacted anti-party hopping provisions.
The move by Jailani, who was suspended for six years by Umno in September for allegedly sabotaging his party in an earlier by-election, means there are now three opposition members in the 28-seat Malacca state assembly.
While Jailani’s defection is unlikely to trigger the downfall of the Malacca state government, it could potentially pave the way for similar moves in the future since the decision by parliament’s speaker implies that money politics is fair game, said Aziff Azuddin, a research associate with Kuala Lumpur-based think tank Iman Research.
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Jailani said on Tuesday that he had little choice but to switch camps as he was kicked out of his constituency office and deprived of funds since his suspension.
His reasoning echoed that of the six lawmakers who defected from the opposition in parliament. They said they had chosen to declare their support for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in exchange for financial support for their constituencies from the government.
“What the parliament speaker has done is complicate the legitimacy of ‘support’ and its dependency on the party the elected representative comes from,” Aziff told This Week in Asia.
“Money has been allegedly proven to sway representatives’ support … it now boils down to the question of who is the highest bidder, and who holds loyalty to their party.”
Parliament in 2022 unanimously approved constitutional amendments that made it illegal for MPs to quit or join other parties during their term. Several states, including Malacca, have since adopted similar provisions in their state constitutions.
The bipartisan move was passed in response to the so-called “Sheraton Move” in 2020, when a group of senior leaders from Bersatu and Anwar’s People’s Justice Party defected to join PAS and then-rivals Umno to secure a slim parliamentary majority and form a Malay-nationalist government.
Adib said last week’s decision indicates that the speaker could potentially use his position to protect the government from similar coup attempts.
The speaker’s ruling shows that more needs to be done to tighten the screws on Malaysia’s anti-hopping laws, experts say, as there would be nothing to stop the government of the day from leaning on its executive powers – and access to public funds – to win over their opponents.
“It won’t be surprising if more opposition MPs declare their support for the current government,” Adib said.
