KOTA KINABALU: A Sabah politician has given the thumbs down to the anti-party hopping law.
Lahad Datu MP Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi, who left Parti Warisan last year to support Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s government, said the anti-hopping Bill should not be debated and implemented.
He said every individual in the country is entitled to free speech and freedom of association just like in other countries.
He said these were also the rights of an elected representative, which is why he opposes the proposed Bill, and not because he had previously changed camps.
He said elected representatives switch to other parties in order to bring development as well as to resolve problems affecting the people.
“Leaders like us ‘jump’ for the people,” he said, when met after launching a Kaamatan event in the east coast Lahad Datu district on Sunday (May 8).
Mohamaddin, who also holds the Segama state seat within Lahad Datu, said there should not be an attempt to obstruct such a right.
The former Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister ditched Warisan in October last year to become an independent supporting Ismail Sabri as well as the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) government.
He later joined Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia in November last year.