Azalina suggested a law that will let voters fire their katak MPs. Here’s how it works.

While everyday life may seem to go on as usual in Malaysia, the reality is we’re in quite a political pickle.

We haven’t had a stable government since three years ago, when it was made clear that it takes little more than a few kataks – or MPs hopping parties – to bring down a government, and make everyone who took annual leaves to go back undi in 2018 look like a bunch of shmucks. And despite how obviously crappy it is, nothing can be done about this katak thing it since it’s technically legal.

But perhaps not for long. A law to punish these kataks is being drawn up as we speak, referred to as the Anti-Hopping Law (AHL) for now. While the details and timeline have yet to be finalized, several suggestions about it have been made, and one of them interested us in particular: something called RecallxAction. Since it was suggested by UMNO’s Azalina Othman, said fervent protester of kataks and meme maker…

…we contacted her to find out more. And the first thing we learned about this RecallxAction was that…

 

It essentially allows voters to punish who they think are kataks

Unfortunately, it won’t allow us to dress kataks in a frog costume and parade them around the town square, but it’s the next best thing. See, one of the head-scratchers when it comes to the Anti-Hopping Law is how you decide who’s a katak, and some of the suggested definitions so far include:

• those who leave a political party they contested for to be independent/join another party
• those who got expelled from their political party
• independent MPs who joins a party after winning

Some of these definitions hadn’t been well received though, because it is believed that there are loopholes that can be exploited – an MP could be expelled from a party just for disagreeing with the president, costing them their seat, for example. With a Recall Action, there’s less need to worry about those loopholes, because it’s the voters who decide who’s a katak. As for how, it’s like those change.org petitions, except this one might make an actual difference.

As proposed by Azalina, a RecallxAction might have 3 easy steps:

1. Once you think an MP jumps, pay a deposit to the Election Commission to start a RecallxAction. The deposit is to avoid non-serious petitions.
2. Then, carry out a petition among the voters in your constituency, finding those who agree with you.
3. Submit that list of signatures to the EC.

If enough people agrees that the MP jumped, the seat will be vacated and a by-election will be held. This way, voters can potentially sack a party-hopping MP through their own power.

“A recall action serves as insurance to voters that the candidate they elect will not betray them by jumping party after the elections. The onus is on the voters to initiate the recall process, making it a collective responsibility of voters to decide if their party-hopping MP stays or if they want to sack him/her.” – Azalina Othman, to Cilisos.

If not enough people think the MP jumped, or if a majority thinks that the jump is justified – like if an MP resigns from their party to uphold their morals – then nothing happens. This leads into another advantage of a Recall Action: costs.

Azalina admits that whichever alternative makes it into the Anti-Hopping Law, some additional costs will arise, but a Recall Action should be worth that additional cost.

“The cost incurred would be on the petition and if the Recall Action progresses to a by-election, a cost will be incurred by the by-election. However, the Recall Action is WORTH THE COST as it protects the Voters’ mandate and maintains political stability.” – Azalina, to Cilisos.

It’s also possible for the Recall Action to prevent unnecessary spending. Say that an MP jumps party, but the voters don’t feel like that’s enough to sack him or her over. By confirming this through a relatively cheaper petition, a costlier by-election that will end up with the same result can be prevented, saving the taxpayers some money.

Well, so far it seems like a great idea to us, but we have to wonder…

 

Will this RecallxAction ever happen in Malaysia, though?

As is many things with the government, ideas wade through a sea of red tapes before they can become a thing. The RecallxAction is no different, being just a suggestion for now, to a law that had yet to be finalized. While some things are still fuzzy and the to-do list for the Anti-Hopping Law still seems long at the moment, the fact that people in the government is seriously looking into ending the past three years’ instability, especially with suggestions that allow voters to hold their MPs accountable, is kind of nice.

Whether or not RecallxAction will ever make it into a law – or whether it will change anything once it does – will remain to be seen, so until more details are known, we’ll hold off on the #balikundiGE15 hashtag for now.