KOTA KINABALU, May 23 — State Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal wants the widely-anticipated anti-party hopping Bill to be moved forward in the current sitting to allow for more time for debate.
The Senallang assemblyman took the first minutes of the sitting to bring up the order of proceedings and asked why the Bill was scheduled for Thursday, the last day of the sitting when it was expected to be the most widely-debated Bill.
“I know we have many important Bills, but maybe not as significant as the anti-party hopping Bill. We need to stabilise our political scenario. My concern is, will we have enough time? Will we have enough time to debate?” he said.
He said the rest of the agenda listed for debate included amendments to land and forestry laws and pointed out that the anti-party hopping Bill is expected to attract many more state legislators in the debate, and will likely take longer to debate.
Shafie made his point before the question-and-answer session where he invoked Article 25 of the Standing Order to ask the state speaker Datuk Kadzim Yahya to consider moving the Bill up to allow more time for debate.
Kadzim then assured Shafie that there would be enough time to debate the Bill.
Shafie had submitted a Private Members Bill on the anti-hopping law last week but it was done away with as the state government had a similar agenda planned.