KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan Harapan’s main focus currently is to get the Anti-Party Hopping Bill passed in Parliament, says Anthony Loke Siew Fook.

       The DAP secretary-general said the question of whether the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Federal government and Pakatan, which ends on July 31, would be extended or not was secondary.

       "Not yet, we have not met yet (with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob). Our focus now is that we must first decide on the Anti-Party Hopping Act.

       "I understand it (the effort) is progressing well, the select committee has held a series of meetings and we hope after Hari Raya (Aidilfitri) a date for a special session can be set," he said when met after a breaking of fast ceremony here Wednesday (April 27).

       Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan, when asked about the MoU between the Federal government and Pakatan recently said that the Umno Supreme Council had decided that it would not be continued after July 31.

       The MoU was signed last September by Ismail Sabri and party leaders from Pakatan, agreeing that Parliament would not be dissolved before July 31 this year.

       On April 20, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar reported that he was optimistic the Select Committee on amendments to the Federal Constitution regarding the ban on MPs switching parties could prepare a report on the proposed Bill within a month.

       The Pakatan presidential council had, on April 11, said in a statement that they wanted the Constitutional Amendment and the Anti-Party Hopping Bill to be tabled and approved in a special sitting of Parliament before the end of May 2022.

       Meanwhile, Loke said as far as he knew, there were no formal talks between Pakatan and Bersatu, and stressed that any new decision must be decided by the Pakatan presidential council first.

       "We don't feel they (Bersatu) have room to negotiate (with Pakatan), that's clear, I've stated that stance many times. I don't even know what Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (Bersatu president) means, it's up to him," he said.

       Muhyiddin, on April 24, was reported to have said without naming anyone that Bersatu was ready to work with any political party to ensure that Barisan Nasional (BN) faced one-on-one contests in the 15th general election (GE15), and that it was in the early stages of negotiating a "win-win" formula among the various parties in order to achieve that agenda. - Bernama