SANDAKAN – Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reforms) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said today stated that there will not be any amendments to the current anti-hopping law, refuting claims of any loopholes in the legislation.
Adding further, she said it is not the government’s job to fix loopholes that the opposition claims exist, as the government’s focus now is on taking care of the people’s well-being.
“Who pushed for the law? We are not the ones who created the law. Now they are the opposition, and now they want to talk about loopholes. Why didn’t they evaluate the loopholes when they came up with the law? Now want to push it to this government… Is it our job to cover loopholes?
“When we talk about the anti-hop law, we talk about power. People have grown tired of power struggles, and they now want a stable government that could focus on economic development,” she told reporters after launching the Justice on Wheel programme at Kampung Madsiang in Kota Kinabalu today.
Azalina also said the anti-hopping law is important to protect the sovereignty of the nation because the government’s stability would be the best weapon against threats from other nations.
She added that incidents such as the Sulu claims on Sabah could happen to any country when there are power struggles.
“(The threats) will see if the government is stable or not and will stir the situation when they see that the prime minister changes. So we have to tell the rakyat that you must allow the government to finish their job, then you change.
“But if you keep changing the government, like changing girlfriends and boyfriends, then that is not responsible. The same (incidents) happened with the Sulu (claim) and Batu Puteh cases,” she added.
Azalina stressed that the ministry will ensure that all parties recognise the anti-hop law’s function, which is to guarantee that the seats belong to the party and the people rather than individual MPs. – January 25, 2024