The Malaysian Insight

A CONFIDENCE, supply and reform agreement (CSRA) between the new government and Pakatan Harapan (PH) is likely if both parties can agree to enact an anti-party hopping law, analysts said. 

And going by the political instability that has persisted since last year, Universiti Malaya’s Prof Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi said it will be hard for politicians to reject the legislation. 

“The parties will face a backlash if they refuse to move with the times to create a more stable political environment,” he said.

Awang Azman, who heads the UM Malay ethnic studies department, said the country has seen the prime minister change three times since 2018, which is particulary unhelpful at a time of crisis brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“And most of this is brought on by MPs changing parties midway,” he added.

Malaysia has had three prime ministers and seen a series of changes in the federal and state governments since 2018, brought about by lawmakers switching parties after they were elected.

As a result of the defections, the country saw the first change in prime ministers since the 2018 elections from Dr Mahathir Mohamad to Muhyiddin Yassin after the latter toppled the PH government in February last year via defections from Umno and PKR. 

The fall of the PH federal government was quickly followed by the collapse of the Kedah, Perak, Malacca and Johor governments. 

The Bersatu-led Perikatan Nasional (PN) next forced elections in Sabah in September last year after inducing 13 assemblymen from various parties to withdraw their support for the Warisan state government.

Although PN managed to win Sabah at the polls, the Muhyiddin administration proved to be short-lived and he was forced to resign last month after losing the support of 14 Umno MPs. 

Following his resignation, 114 PN, Barisan Nasional (BN), Gabungan Parti Sarawak and several independents elected Umno vice president Ismail Sabri Yaakob to be the third prime minister in as many years. 

PKR vice president Chang Lih Kang said the root cause of the unstable political situation was due to unencumbered party-hopping.

“Elected reps just need to change party affiliation in order to switch from opposition to government, although it might go against the will of voters in the election. 

“Eventually, voters will become disillusioned because election results are not final. 

“Hence we badly need to come up with an anti-hopping mechanism to regain voters’ confidence in the democratic system. Otherwise, people will not want to vote.

“Low voter turnout will affect the government’s legitimacy, no matter which side they are on,” said the Tanjong Malim MP. 

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s Dr Mazlan Ali was also confident that the MPs will agree to some kind of anti-party hopping mechanism. 

“Umno and PH have suffered the most and will want such a law,” said the political science lecturer. 

“And while there will be parties that do not support it, Umno and PH themselves have enough numbers to pass such the law,” he added. 

Among those who have signalled their support for such a law are former prime minister Najib Razak, Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan and former Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker Azalina Othman Said.

BN, which consists of Umno (38), MCA (2), MIC (1) and PBRS (1), have 42 MPs while PH has 89. PH comprises DAP (42), PKR (35), Amanah (11) and Upko (1). Together, the two coalitions have 121 of the 222 seats in Dewan Rakyat. 

Ismail is reported to have begun discussions with PH after meeting with Anwar Ibrahim, Mohamad Sabu and Lim Guan Eng last week.

Ismail is believed to be seeking a CSRA with PH to avoid losing support like his predecessor Muhyiddin. Three days before he resigned, Muhyiddin had offered the opposition such a deal but was rejected. – September 4, 2021.