According to an exclusive report by SinChew Daily, government classifies job-hopping into three categories, if a member of parliament falls into one of these categories, the seat he or she elected will be redraw.
The first scenario is when a people’s representative is expelled from a political party and is considered to be jumping ship. The second situation is when a people’s representative leaves his or her party and joins another party, which is also considered jumping ship. An independent who joins a political party after winning an election may also be in violation of the anti-jumping law.
After a seat becomes vacant, the incumbent has the right to rejoin the party without being barred from joining for up to five years, as was the case in the past. If a seat remains vacant for three years after an election, a by-election is not required. If an entire party leaves one coalition and joins another, this will not be considered jumping ship.
It is understood that the anti-jumping regulation being drafted only applies to parliamentary seats, and state seats in the state need to be amended by the state assembly itself to amend the regulation. The government is expected to introduce this anti-jumping law in the National Assembly in March this year.
