After surviving a fraught two years under three different governments, Malaysian lawmakers finally pulled the trigger on a long-awaited move this week. In a bid to ensure improve the nation's political stability, their parliament passed a bipartisan bill to make defections illegal.
Under the new rule, which was passed with the support of all present for the House vote, any lawmaker who decides to change parties after being elected to a post will automatically lose their position in parliament.
The bill prevents MPs from switching allegiances when the House is due to decide on important matters as a way to topple an administration -- something which Malaysians are unfortunately all too familiar with.
The move is a part of a series of reforms introduced by Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob -- who himself came to power following the demise of Muhyiddin Yasin, his predecessor kicked out of office last year.
Deeply dissatisfied by his inability to calm the political instability that had dogged Malaysia since the resignation of Mahathir Mohamad the year before, as well as his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, lawmakers from both the coalition and opposition banded together to vote him out.
Back in April, de facto Law Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said 39 MPs had changed parties since the 2018 elections, branding such moves a threat to Malaysian democracy. And it isn't hard to see why people were so upset about party-switching -- the time these lawmakers have wasted arguing and scheming against each other could have been better used to figure out ways to help the nation's neediest, who are struggling in the wake of the pandemic.
With the bill now set to be endorsed by Malaysia's monarch, voters have high hopes the next election, which has to be held before September next year, will bring about the stability the nation needs to start moving forward economically and politically. Whether that will be the case remains to be seen, yet everyone agrees it is a step in the right direction -- but is it a step that Thailand should also be considering?
Right here across the border, the situation may not be as dire -- Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has led the country under various capacities since 2014 -- but what has transpired over the past couple of years should serve as a warning of messy times to come if the next prime minister also commands a razor-thin majority.
Since officially becoming premier in 2019, Gen Prayut's administration has survived four no-confidence motions -- which means since he came to power, he has had to spend almost a third of each year defending his actions in parliament.
One can only begin to wonder, given what the country is going through at the moment, with inflation teetering near record levels and a resurgence of Covid-19 amid an intensive push to reopen the nation, what more the government could have achieved if it didn't have to worry about its survival?
Gen Prayut has managed to stay in power because despite a thin majority, his administration is backed by politicians from smaller parties which exist only to serve the interests of certain individuals.
This type of politician has been a mainstay of the political system for so long now that House colleagues and laymen alike have begun referring to them as "cobras" -- a label which, sadly all too often appears to be worn as a badge of honour.
Unfortunately, these individuals will remain a feature on the political landscape for as long as the rules aren't changed to force lawmakers to respect and carry out the voters' mandate. Without a doubt, politicians will find another way to circumvent any new regulation, but that doesn't mean a known flaw in the system shouldn't be fixed.
While it won't stop lawmakers disagreeing, a measure which runs along those lines would at least force MPs to carefully consider their stance.
Malaysia's Anti-Hopping Bill may not be a perfect fit for Thailand, but its passing seems to confirm that ultimately every public gets tired of constant political wrangling, and that without a solution, the government and opposition will not survive. Malaysia was on the verge of finding out the hard way that its political situation was not sustainable when it passed the bill. Thailand should also heed the warning and start moving to rectify the problem.
