Reject all defecting BN elected reps, says Ramkarpal

GEORGE TOWN: DAP’s Ramkarpal Singh is urging the Pakatan Harapan leadership to reject any Barisan Nasional state and parliamentary representatives defecting to the coalition.

The entry of Barisan wakil rakyat to the newly-minted Pakatan Harapan government is ill-advised and should not to be condoned, the Bukit Gelugor MP said.

“It is imperative for Barisan to be completely rejected for a true reformation of the country.

“The true reforms which Pakatan needs to embark on in its quest to save Malaysia must necessarily exclude such Barisan reps as they were the ones who condoned and supported the regime under the former prime minister (Datuk Seri) Najib Razak, whom we toppled,” he said in a statement yesterday.

He also suggested to the Pakatan government to emulate the anti-hopping stance taken by the Penang state government in 2012, where a member of the state legislative assembly must vacate his seat if he resigns, or is expelled or ceases to be a member of the party that he was elected under.

An influx of Barisan representatives to Pakatan would erode the confidence of Pakatan supporters who voted for change, he added.

He said that Pakatan has sufficient numbers and calibre without the need to achieve a two-thirds majority in Parliament through Barisan defections.

“With hard work and perseverance, I have no doubt that Pakatan will achieve that two-thirds majority legitimately in the next general election,” he said.

“The Pakatan leadership must seriously reconsider entertaining such defections,” he said.

In a separate statement posted on his blog yesterday, DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang said Malaysians, including those who had opposed Pakatan, should be welcome to join in this “new but challenging journey to reset nation building policies and directions, provided they fully endorse Pakatan’s vision and manifesto – without any conditions”.

Meanwhile, a lawyer has called on political parties to stop party hopping and respect the people’s choice and mandate.

Datuk Joy Appukuttan said that a representative who wants to join another party after being elected, should resign and seek re-election under the new party he moved to.

“Otherwise, there is no respect for the people’s choice,” he said.

Joy said that the people’s choice was made, which was the only opportunity they had, and they had chosen the parties that represented certain values as revealed in the manifestos, and not the parties that some representatives decide to move to after being elected.

“They should not abdicate the responsibilities they have been voted in for,” he said.

Joy urged the parties to respect the people’s choice.

“That is fundamental in democracy. When you fail to respect people’s choice, then democracy is very fragile and at risk.

“Moving from one party to another does not serve the people’s interest,” he said.