Minister in the Prime Minister‘s Department Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi, who is in charge of parliamentary and legal affairs, pointed out that the cabinet did not agree to introduce the anti-job-hopping bill in the special session of the lower house of parliament on April 11. According to reports, the bill will not be introduced until more research is done on the definition of job hopping.
He said that the special session of Congress is still going on as scheduled to introduce amendments to the federal constitution, so that the anti-job-hopping bill can be introduced later. Constitutional amendments require the support of two-thirds of the lower house of Congress to pass.
Cabinet's decision today marks the second extension of the anti-job-hopping bill.
Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi also said he was not happy with the repeated delays to the anti-job-hopping bill, but was forced to accept the Cabinet's decision. He told the media after meeting with Pakatan Harapan leaders today that as a member of the cabinet, he can only accept the decision of the cabinet, because the cabinet is the highest decision-making unit, and his personal feelings are not important. He said that he has been working on the anti-job-hopping bill for 8 months, and now he is still unable to submit it in Congress as scheduled, and his feelings are self-evident.
Zahid urges Umno
President Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid reminded the party's cabinet members that they must take a tough stance on the anti-job-hopping bill, otherwise it will stir up dissatisfaction among the people.
He pointed out that the introduction of the anti-job-hopping bill had been delayed again, which gave the impression of a lack of courage and political will, and questioned whether there was any duplicity in this.
In a Facebook post, he said the repeated delays in bringing the anti-job-hopping bill to Parliament for passage have lost confidence in politics and disappointed the Malaysians who were waiting for the bill to come into force.
“After BN lost the last general election, Umno has become a victim of MPs who switched jobs and our MPs moved to other parties.
Ahmad Zahid also questioned whether there is a hidden mystery behind the government's lack of determination to debate, formulate and promote? “This disappoints those who were looking forward to the passage of the anti-job-hopping law because of the job-hopping of MPs.”
MP Qiu Peidong
DAP Melaka City MP Qiu Pei Tung called on political parties or individuals who do not support the anti-job-hopping bill to come forward and explain their positions and reasons for not supporting it for the public to judge for themselves.
He said in a statement that Pakatan Harapan has pledged to fully support the anti-job-hopping bill to prevent the re-emergence of the “political frog” culture that has destabilized the country.
Democratic Action Party
DAP secretary-general Luk Siu Hock confirmed when asked that the main leaders of Pakatan Harapan will discuss the anti-job-hopping law with Wan Junaidi tomorrow. He said the Pakatan Harapan three-party leaders would meet with Wan Junaidi on the “Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Transformation and Political Stability”.
The government released three definitions of job hopping in the anti-job-hopping bill in the upper house of parliament on March 30, including 1) announcing to quit the party to become an independent MP or join another political party after winning the election; 2) being expelled from the party after winning, and 3) Join other political parties after winning the battle as an independent.
As long as any elected member encounters these three situations, it is considered to be a job-hopping; at that time, the seat needs to be vacant and re-election is required within 60 days.
The government and Pakatan Harapan signed a memorandum of understanding on September 13 last year covering 77 parliamentary and government reforms, including limiting the prime minister's term to 10 years and introducing an anti-job-hopping bill.
