Frog (Malaysian politics)
In Malaysian politics, a frog (Malay:katak) refers to an act where a politician crosses the bench from one party to another.[1][2] This term was first coined in during the 1994 Sabah state elections. Despite its usage nationwide, it is more familiar within the state of Sabah.[3]
Origins
Even prior to the 1994 Sabah state elections, a series of defections made by several local politicians has brought Sabahan politics into instability. For instance, the 1985 Sabah state elections produced a PBS-led government with Joseph Pairin Kitingan being the new Chief Minister. However, some of the new government lawmakers defected to either USNO or BERJAYA, resulting in the government losing its majority.
Pairin called a new election amidst a conflict across the state. His party later won the polls with a landslide victory, wiping out BERJAYA from the state political landscape. The government continued to rule for another eight years.
During the 1994 elections, PBS was able to retained its position as the government with a narrow majority, going on to form a new government with a majority of just two seats. In just only a few months, defections brought PBS left with only five MLAs, resulting an UMNO-led Barisan Nasional state government being formed. Sakaran Dandai was sworn in as the next CM until his appointment as the Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sabah later that year.
The term katak derives from how the frog moves, which is hopping. It is widely becoming popular as the politicians jump from one party to another.
Examples of the usage
2018 Sabah state election
The 2018 state elections produced almost a similar outcome as the 1994 elections except it was ended with a hung assembly. Neither BN nor newly formed Parti Warisan Sabah and Pakatan Harapan was able to win the 31 seats of majority as both won 29 seats, leaving the Homeland Solidarity Party as the kingmaker with two seats. At last, STAR decided to teamed up with BN, allowing Musa Aman to be reelected as the Chief Minister for a fifth consecutive term, being the only Chief Minister of Sabah to do so. Despite that, the government immediately fell apart when UPKO decided to gave its support to WARISAN-PH, bringing the support to Shafie Apdal to 35 compared with Musa which was left behind with 25 seats. Only two days later, Shafie became the new CM with support from PH and UPKO.
A series of serious defections occurred after that. Not only several component parties of BN left the coalition, most of Sabah UMNO politicians decided to cross the floor. Musa Aman was the sole UMNO MLA throughout the term, while the rest either joining the newly formed BERSATU, WARISAN or remained independent.
2018 Malaysian general election
After the election defeat, several of UMNO leaders decided to jump to BERSATU with MP for Jeli, Mustapa Mohamed became the first MP to do so. From 54 UMNO MPs elected, the party only had 39 MPs when the Parliament dissolved.
2020 Sabah state election
The term 'katak' was once again coined in after Musa Aman claimed that BN has a majority to form a government, resulting into some speculations that several WARISAN-PH MLA may defect to the opposition. To prove the legitimacy of the government, Shafie asked the Yang di-Pertua Negeri to dissolve the Sabah State Legislative Assembly, in which his request was accepted. However, WARISAN lost the election to another newly formed Gabungan Rakyat Sabah coalition with a majority of three seats (32 (WARISAN)-38 (GRS)) (later six as all the independent MLAs joined GRS).[4][5] Hajiji Noor, leader of the GRS was sworn in as the Chief Minister.
Across the three years prior to a state political crisis, 10 MLAs defected. Most of them joining the government coalition, while only two remained in opposition.
2023 Sabah political crisis
Following the 2022 general elections, the Sabah BERSATU within GRS decided to gave its support to Anwar Ibrahim as the Prime Minister. However, BERSATU at the federal level rejected any 'grand coalition' proposal and became the opposition. This caused a dispute and eventually led to a breakaway. All the Sabah BERSATU MPs except Ronald Kiandee, MP for Beluran (who contested under Perikatan Nasional ticket instead of GRS) left the party.
All the state legislators joined the rebranded Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah, while the members of the Dewan Rakyat remained direct members of GRS due to a law that forbade any lawmakers to defect.
Owing to Hajiji's decision to defect, then-Deputy Chief Minister I of Sabah, Bung Moktar Radin pulled his support for Hajiji, along with all but five UMNO MLAs. This situation resulted a crisis which led to expulsion of Bung from his position. Later on, Shahelmy Yahya (one of five UMNO MLAs who supported Hajiji) was appointed as Deputy Chief Minister III. Hajiji also reshuffled his cabinet, in which Pakatan Harapan rejoined the government.[6] With Pakatan Harapan and partial support from UMNO lawmakers, Hajiji resisted the crisis.
As a result, eleven MLA crossed the floor, in which the composition is as follows:
- One PBM MLA joined Barisan Nasional (UMNO)
- Five WARISAN MLA joined GAGASAN
- Five BN (UMNO) MLA joined GAGASAN,
giving Hajiji a supermajority control over the assembly after UMNO and KDM decided to support the government once again.
References
- partyforumseasia (2020-09-17). "Malaysia's "Katak" Parliament". Political Party Forum Southeast Asia. Retrieved 2023-04-03.
- "Party hopping in Malaysia - Google Search". www.google.com. Retrieved 2023-04-03.
- "Political Turmoil in Sabah: Attack of the Kataks". ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. 2020-08-05. Retrieved 2023-04-03.
- Team, Malaysiakini (2020-09-26). "LIVE: Battle for Sabah - GRS 38, Warisan Plus 32, Independent 3". Malaysiakini. Retrieved 2023-04-03.
- "Commentary: Sabah's surprise results – and how Warisan lost big in state elections". CNA. Retrieved 2023-04-03.
- Chan, Julia (2023-01-11). "Pakatan duo in, Sabah Umno top three out in new state Cabinet line-up". Malay Mail. Retrieved 2023-04-03.