10/21/2016

TheMalaysianBarAntiHoppingLaws:Viceorvirtue?

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TheMalaccaBarCommitteerecentlyorganizedaforumtodiscussthequestionofwhetherantihopping
lawswereaviceorvirtueaquestionwhichgainedparticularpoignancy,giventherecentmanoeuvrings
andspateofdecisionstodeterminewhichpartyhadtherighttogovernPerak.
FourspeakerswereinvitedtosharetheirthoughtsonthequestionDr.AzmiShahrom,YeoYangPoh,
GobindSinghDeoandMalikImtiazSarwar.
Dr. Azmi Shahrom kickstarted the forum as the first speaker and expressed the view that he believed
thattherecentincidentinvolvingthe3LegislativeAssemblymembersinPeraktobequiteabhorrentas
they did so not on grounds of principle or ideal. Nevertheless the issue, he said, revolves primarily
aroundthefreedomtoassociateordisassociate.
Hepointedoutthatallegianceswitchingisanormalpartofpoliticallifebutacknowledgesthatthiswas
probably difficult to accept in this instance as the switching led to a change of government. Such a
change is probably quite unthinkable in more mature democracies but the unthinkable occurs here
becausethereisalackofmaturityandunderstandingofthedemocraticprocess.

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Dr.Azmihastenedtoreassuretheaudiencethatwhiletheideaofallegianceswitchingmaybesomewhat
discomfortingtosome,thefactistheissueofthefreedombeingabuseddoesntquiteariseasthereare
alreadysafeguardsinplaceinthelaw.
No doubt, one cant stop a person from joining whoever they want but on the other one must respect
the citizens of the country who have voted one particular group to power. A far reaching change, such
as the change of Government, shouldnt happen through the backdoor. Unfortunately, where Perak is
concerned, he believed the person entrusted with this responsibility mistakenly decided not to dissolve
theLegislativeAssembly.
Ofcourse,italsopaystoensurethatotherdemocraticmechanismslikegoodanticorruptionslawsand
the Malaysian AntiCorruption Commission is made more resilient to ensure that even when allegiance
switchingoccurs,itdoesntoccurforbasereasons.
YeoYangPohthentookoverthebatonandsummeduptheobjectiontopoliticalcrossoversasfollowsif
peoples representative party hops, he is treated to have betrayed the trust and mandate which the
votershavegivenhimorher.
Thisobjectionispremisedoncertainunderlyingassumptions.Firstly,Malaysianvotersvotealongparty
lines i.e. they have confidence in the party as opposed to the individual. Secondly, when voters give
votestoaparticularlyindividual,youaresupposedtotoethepartylineineachandeverysubjectmatter
evenifthepartylinehasnotbeenthoughtofatthetimethevotingwasmade.
TheformerPresidentoftheMalaysianBarnotedthatthefirstassumptionmaynotnecessarilybetrueas
while it is true some candidates are voted in because of their party credentials, other candidates are
votedinbecauseoftheirpersonalcredentials.Asforthesecondassumption,itmaynotnecessarilybe
realisticaspersonalconvictionsonthisorthatcansometimeschangeandthisshouldnotbeseenasa
betrayalofthevotersmandate.

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Ultimately,alotdependsonthereasonsorthemotiveforhoppingandtherecanbealotofabuse.The
complaintmaynotevenbesomuchagainsthoppingpersebutthereasonsforthehoppingbutwhich
reasonscanberatherdifficulttodiscover.
Yeosfinalpointattheforumwasthatitistheabuseofhoppingwhichneedstobechecked.However,
he pointed out that the abuser is not the candidate who switched allegiance but committed and
perpetuatedbyMalaysianvoters.Theelectorateappeartotoleratepartyhoppingofthewrongkindwhen
it comes to crunch time during elections. Voters need to look inwards and tell the politicians that it is
suicidaltocommithoppingforthewrongreasons.
Gobind Singh Deo then took his turn at the rostrum by asking whether everyone knew who their
Legislative Assembly representative or Member of Parliament for their constituency was. He felt that on
8th. March 2008, it seemed as if any candidate placed against Barisan Nasional candidates would have
won. In that sense, it was not so much a victory for Pakatan Rakyat but more of a loss by the Barisan
Nasional.
The underlying reason for that is that the voters simply voted for change. However, having said that,
how would voters feel if the candidate who promised change, lambasting the other side, suddenly
switchedtotheverysidehewascastigatingpreviously.
Therightthingtodowouldbetoresign,explaintothevotersthecandidatesreasonsfordoingsoand
seek a fresh mandate in the form of a byelection. The only problem in this country is that if the
candidateresigns,thecandidatecantrecontest.
Gobindacknowledgedthattheremaybepositivesofhoppingasevidentbythefollowingexample:
Assuming Hitler ruled. During the elections, everyone being very impressed with his
presentationvotedthewholepartyin.Hewon.WethenfindthathewantstodowhatHitlerdid
genocide etc. All of us know that it is wrong. Cant control, crazy. What do you do? Does
everybodysaywaitfornextelection?
So,clearly,thepresentsystemwhichpreventscandidatesfromresigningandseekingafreshmandate

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TheMalaysianBarAntiHoppingLaws:Viceorvirtue?

isflawedandtherearegoodaspectsofhopping.
On this note, it is also sensible to ask further questions. For instance, when a vote was cast at the
elections,wasthevotecastfortheindividual,partyortheprincipleswhichthecandidateprojected?Or
what happens when a whole party decides to join someone else is that not party hopping since the
whole party is hopping? In such a situation what does the individual candidate do? He had previously
lambastedthepoliciesoftheotherpartybutnowhispartyisjoiningtheotherside.

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At the end of the day, according to Gobind, when a decision is made to support or reject a decision to
switch allegiance, the individual candidate would be judging it against the principles which he had
projected.

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Thatsaid,Gobindemphasisedthathefeelshoppingtobeadetestabledeed.Infact,hefeltitisacrime
asitisabetrayalofthetrustofthepeoplewhovotedwhichevercandidate.Themomentthecandidate
contemplates changing allegiance, he needs to go back to the people and get a fresh mandate.
Otherwise,therewillalsopotentiallybetheridiculoussituationofcandidateswhogomissing,comeback
andsaytheysupportonepartyonapartydayandgomissingagainandsaytheysupportanotherparty
onanotheroccasion.

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However, the problem, again, is with the system as the system doesnt empower the people to provide
thatfreshmandatetothecandidate.Theissueofpredatedresignationlettersismerelysymptomaticof
thatverysameissue.
Gobind felt that there was a need for antihopping laws but its terms should be clear so as to provide
somecertaintyastowhenacandidatemustseekafreshmandatefromthepeople.
On this score, Malik Imtiaz expressed a different view. Even though he does not support hopping as a
matterofprinciple,heneverthelessfeltthattherewasnoneedforantihoppinglaws.
Principallythisisduetothefactthatonewouldbecompelledtodrawupalistofexceptionsastowhen
partyhoppingisorisnotpermissible.Thatwouldberidiculousasthelawneedscertainty.
Sooncewecometotermswiththefactitisimpossibletoregulatehopping,wecanthencometoterms
with the fact that answer lies within the causes of hopping. According to Malik, hopping is merely
symptomaticofthebreakdownofthedemocraticprocesswithinMalaysia.

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The remedy to the issue actually lies within the Federal Constitution enacted in 1957. That Constitution
setsoutfourimportantaspects.
Firstly, there is freedom of association. The Supreme Court in the case of Nordin Salleh held that this
freedomincludesthefreedomofdisassociation.
Secondly, in order to qualify as a candidate for election, you must be an individual and you must not
have certain disqualifying features. The Constitution does not mention political party and the legal
premiseisthatwhenthereisavotedone,onevotesfortheindividual.Thiswastherealityin1957and
thesameappliesnow.

That was the scenario in 1957 i.e. a candidate could hop. The Constitutional founders felt that it was
permissible as the expectation was if a candidate stood for elections, the candidate was worthy of
standing for elections. In other words, the candidate was a statesman who could do some good for the
constituency. The candidates, then, appeared to appreciate their roles as an Assemblyman or as
Parliamentarian.Thisdoesntseemtobethecasetoday.
Malik then asked why the founders thought about hopping in this way did and gave four reasons for
this. Firstly, in general, there was a respect for the rule of law. Secondly, there was a respect for
constitutionalism and all that means to us as a society. Thirdly, there was a respect for the system.
Fourthly,itisimpossibletodefinehopping.
Today, if a candidate resigns, the candidate cant stand for election for 5 years. That was done for
political convenience. Unfortunately, the repercussion of that change is that candidates today cant do
anythingonprincipleanymore.So,whatisacandidatesupposedtodointhatsituation?
Today, in the system that we have right now, the rakyat is the lowest denominator and the lowest
priority.Ultimately,itisaspectatorgamethatpeopleplayatsomelevelforthebenefitoftheelitesand
we just happen to be there. That is what the system has become. Look at public perception of the key
public institutions of the State. The police in many minds are a joke. The judiciary, MACC and the
ElectionCommissionisnttoofarbehind.Whenthesystemnolongerfunctionsasasystem,seemingly,
andthesystemisskewedtoaparticularend,seemingly,ittakesalotoutfromacandidate.
In Maliks view, the issue of antihopping cannot be considered in isolation from all of the above and
maybetheremedyliesinstrengtheningthesystemsothatwecangobacktotheideal.Thewayitwas
supposedtobeallalong.Ultimately,heemphasisedthatthesolutiondoesnotlieintyingpeopleshands
aswehaveseenthatgoingwrongfartoomanytimesbefore.
Themoderatorthenopenedthefloortothepublictoposeanyquestionsorsharecommentsastheysaw
fit. Most questions revolved around the musical chairs happening in Perak, with some questioning the
processbywhichthechangeofGovernmenttookplaceandothersquestioningthedecisionsmetedout
bytherelevantinstitutionssubsequenttothehopping.
In that sense, it seemed rather ironic that the forum was held in Malacca as many years ago, similar
conflictingquestionswereraisedwhenHangTuahduelledHangJebat.Superficially,theduelwasmerely
a duel between two friends. The reality however was that the duel encapsulated two conflicting
philosophies regarding justice: one demanding absolute fidelity to process and the other demanding
absolutefidelitytooutcome.
Thelongandshortoftheissueissimplythatiftheprocessisasrobustandresilientaswasintended
by the framers of the Constitution, then no questions can rightly be raised about whatever outcome
whetheritrelatestothequestionofhoppingortheconsequencesofhopping.
After the question and answer session, the moderator brought the session to an end at about 11 p.m.
leavingtheaudiencewithmuchtodigestupon.
For those select few who revel in Malaccas past, the forum that night must have evoked conflicting
emotionssimilartotheonesraisedduringtheHangTuahandHangJebatduel.Inthatsense,thepast
has somehow connived to parallel the future, or vice versa, as the Tamingsari is, today, part of the
officialregaliaoftheSultanofPerak.

10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Thirdly,theConstitutiondoesnotsetanyrestrictionthatacandidatecantswitchallegiance.Therefore,
thefoundersoftheConstitutionallowedittohappenintheirminds.Thisisimportanttonote.
Fourthly,ifacandidateresigns,thenatthatstagetherewasnoprohibitioninthecandidatecontesting.
ThecaseofShahrirSamadisevidenceofthat.Contrastthistonow,ifyouresign,youcantrecontest.

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