KUCHING: Party hopping is not honourable, neither is it the benchmark of intelligence, said Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri James Jemut Masing.
He said the element of trust is lost when a lawmaker hops from a party from which he or she was elected.
“The more frequent he hops, the more he lost his credibility in the eyes of the society,” he said in a statement today.
“Laws of diminishing returns — not cash value but in credibility and integrity — are applicable. And in the end that particular lawmaker becomes worthless in the eyes of our community,” he said.
He said as such, the enticer of such move is also equally guilty of degrading our lawmaker’s character.
Masing said this in response to the newly-minted Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) member Baru Bian who insisted he was an ‘intelligent katak’ (frog).
“At the eve of Gawai Dayak celebration 2020, Baru Bian offers a new definition of the political frog or the correct official term, party-hopping.
“In politics, the term frog or katak is very derogatory. It is for this reason that our highest legal institutions, for example parliament and state legislature, over the years try to push for anti-party hopping laws in order to stop our lawmakers from party-hopping,” he said.
The Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president pointed out that to be called frog is most demeaning for any elected lawmaker.
“Voters will assume that every hop a lawmaker makes, cash is transacted. However, this may not be the case because our lawmakers are, after all, men of integrity.
“That is why we address them as the honourable members or YB.
“So please don’t degrade this honourable profession to a house of street prostitutes,” he said.
