COMMENT | Anti-hopping law viable but needs new provisions

COMMENT | One big obstacle to introducing an anti-hopping law (AHL) is the ruling by the then Supreme Court of Malaysia in 1992, which interpreted the constitution and declared crossing over to another political party was freedom of association.

Thus, in order to introduce the AHL, the first order of business is for Parliament to approve a constitutional amendment to bypass the 1992 court ruling.

And this requires a two-thirds majority vote among parliamentarians for the constitutional amendment to be passed.

But even this is not straightforward, as the amendment could be challenged in the Federal Court because any party concerned could seek legal remedy.

In 2015, retired Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram was reported to have said there could be no AHL in Malaysia because of the 1992 landmark judicial pronouncement.

"Even an amendment to the constitution will fail because freedoms under Part 2 of the national charter form part of the basic framework," he said.