Dewan Rakyat: Anifah: No harm in crossing over - NST

May 8, 2008 By V. Vasudevan, B. Suresh Ram, Eileen Ng, R.S. Kamini and Ili Liyana Mokhtar

THERE is no harm in Barisan Nasional MPs in Sabah defecting to the opposition, a backbencher from the state told the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

"If there is no more space in the existing bungalow, what is the harm in them moving to a smaller house?" asked Datuk Anifah Aman, the member for Kimanis, to cheers from the opposition and nods from backbenchers from Sabah.

Anifah, who was speaking during the debate on the Royal Address, drew on this analogy after Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (BN-Bagan Datok) asked him if Sabah backbenchers were tempted to cross over to the opposition.

"Is this not an act of a desperado? Why would 140 members occupying bungalows want to move to smaller terrace houses?" Ahmad Zahid asked.

However, Anifah's reply stumped him, and a whole lot of backbenchers from the peninsula as well.

"I am not saying I am crossing over. There may be a handful who may want to move," he said. "This matter of crossing over is not a serious matter. What is serious is the millions in five states in Malaysia who crossed over to the opposition," he said to laughter from opposition members.

This led Datuk Puad Zarkashi (BN-Batu Pahat) to ask Anifah if he would support an anti-hopping law.

Anifah replied that he was against any law that would stop members from crossing over or changing parties.

"That would be like a police state. What is the point of persisting with leaders who have deviated from the right path? Do we stick with them? What good is a leader if the people are no longer with him?"

Anifah then pondered about the price of blind loyalty to leaders and the price people would have to pay for this.

"What is the use of being loyal to leaders and, in the process, sacrificing our people's future?" he asked.

To a question from Datuk Ghapur Salleh (BN-Kalabakan), who lamented about the poor infrastructural facilities in Sabah, Anifah said independence would be meaningless if the people could not enjoy clean running water or if children had to walk miles to get an education.

Anifah said the most important thing that the government should work on now was to prevent Sabah from going the way of the five states ruled by the Pakatan Rakyat.

"Even if we speak harshly it does not mean we are defecting. The important thing now is for Sabah people not to jump like the Peninsular Malaysians did in the five states," he said.