Dato Sri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar
KUCHING (July 10): The refined version of the Anti-Party Hopping Bill is set to be presented to the Parliament on July 18, according to the country’s de facto law minister Dato Sri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.
“As far as the laws are concerned, it is ready to be presented. I have a timeline and it will be laid on the table on this July 18,” he said yesterday.
The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department for Parliament and Law added that he will be giving time to Members of Parliament to study the refined version of the Bill, including its scope and parameters.
He was speaking a press conference after handing over sacrificial cows to community leaders from his parliamentary constituency of Santubong at the Agriculture Department’s animal quarantine centre along Jalan Bako yesterday.
Wan Junaidi said he was ready to debate the Bill and informed that the parliamentary select committee formed to study and refine the original version of the Bill that was tabled on April 11 had collectively close to 200 years of legal experience among its members.
“I am confident there will not be any obstacles (for the Bill to be debated) because this matter had already been discussed with all parties. The law is ready,” he added.
When asked whether the Bill has obtained consensus in approval from his Cabinet colleagues, Wan Junaidi said he will leave the matter to the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to handle.
The minister also explained that, in line with the Westminter system of government, the Parliament had taken over the duty to refine the Bill after the appointment of parliamentary select committee since the committee was an instrument of the Parliament and not from the executive branch.
He expected the second reading of the Bill to happen after July 18 and he was optimistic that the Bill will be successfully debated.
When prompted further on whether the general election will be held in three months’ time, the Santubong MP skirted the question by saying he expected the Bill to be gazetted into laws earliest by the end of September.