TABLE the anti-hopping Bill in the current Dewan Rakyat meeting, says a senior Umno parliamentarian.

       “What is important is that the proposed laws are tabled.

       “We have to install it here first in Parliament. If there are any weaknesses, we can tweak it later at the committee stages.

       “Let us first have the laws tabled,” Padang Rengas MP Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz said when debating the Supply Bill in the Dewan Rakyat.

       Last September, the Perikatan Harapan government signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Pakatan Harapan to bring reforms and political stability for the nation.

       Among the agreement was that the Opposition would not push for an early general election before July 31.

       One of the reforms include the tabling of anti-hopping laws.

       A special bipartisan committee was set up to look into the issue.

       Last month, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar assured that the proposed Bill would be tabled during the current Dewan Rakyat meeting which ends tomorrow.

       Wan Junaidi had hinted that amendments to the Federal Constitution would be done to stop party hopping rather than passing a specific law for the purpose.

       But on March 19, Wan Junaidi announced that the tabling of the proposed amendments would be delayed or held during a special Dewan Rakyat sitting.

       He said the Cabinet was of the opinion that the proposed Bill still required further consultations through engagement sessions with other stakeholders, particularly Barisan Nasional and Perikatan.

       Nazri, who is a senior Barisan MP, acknowledged that there might be differences among political parties as to the type of anti-hopping laws which should be tabled.

       However, he said this could be ironed out at later stages after the Bill had been tabled.

       “I believe that we support the Bill 100% unless they (MPs) are the frogs themselves, which are only a minority,” he said.

       Nazri reminded the current administration that they had signed an MOU to table the anti-hopping Bill, which should not be delayed.

       “The Cabinet should not dwell on it any longer.

       “We have an MOU with the Opposition and one way to show our sincerity is to table it during the current Dewan Rakyat meeting,” he said.

       Nazri suggested that a special sitting be held only if the Bill could not be passed during the present meeting.

       Datuk Mahfuz Omar (PH-Pokok Sena) asked whether Nazri would give his support if the Bill was tabled first and that the Dewan Rakyat meeting was extended to pass the law.

       To this, Nazri said he would support any effort to table the anti-hopping Bill as long as it was tabled during the current meeting.