KUALA LUMPUR: Members of Parliament from both political divide today decided to form a bipartisan parliamentary caucus to reform the country's electoral system to prevent party hopping by MPs and assemblymen.
The caucus will be chaired by Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz (BN - Padang Rengas) and given six months to gather views from relevant stakeholders before tabling the recommendations to the Dewan Rakyat.
"We feel it is time to form a caucus to stop this embarrassing action taken by MPs to the point that the country is now becoming unstable because of party hopping.
"We have been having this problem for over 30 years now," Mohamed Nazri said in a media conference at the Parliament building, here, today.
He said although there was a court ruling that an anti-hopping law could not be enacted in the country as it goes against human rights, the caucus would look for the best method to resolve the issue.
"The highest court in the country had (previously) decided that an anti-hopping law cannot be enacted because it will prevent an MP or an assemblyman from practising their basic human rights.
"But we must think of a way. All of this was done by humans and as humans, we can use our brains to find ways to stop it," he said, describing party hoppers as "prostitutes".
He said parties who don't agree with such efforts can be considered as "prostituting themselves".
"What are the examples we want to show to the youth actually? To me, an elected MP who hops to another is a disgrace," he said, adding that leaders from all big political parties in the country would join the caucus.
"Do not place any barriers just to frustrate this effort. This is a good effort for our MPs, the people and the future of our nation," he said.
Anthony Loke (PH - Seremban) who was also present at the press conference said the caucus was formed following Mohamed Nazri's recent suggestion to the Dewan Rakyat for the Election Commission Act 1957 to be amended to enforce a party-list system instead of formulating an anti-hopping law.
According to Loke, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun has been notified of the formation of the caucus and that he has agreed to it.
"We are asking for six months to complete the report and it will be tabled to the government and after that, an amendment to the (Act) will be done.
"We will call on academicians, non-governmental organisations (NGO) and relevant individuals to provide us with the best ways to improve our electoral system.
"We want to put a stop to MPs hopping to another party after they have received the mandate from the people," Loke said.