Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman's move to take the party out of the unity government has created waves.
Obviously, the opposition in Parliament welcomed it with great glee. Any blow struck at the government, after all, is a good one in their minds.
At first glance, it may not have seemed like a very significant blow, considering that Muda has only one representative in the Dewan Rakyat — Syed Saddiq himself.
Yet, it is quite a hit indeed for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and company, as the loss of just one member of parliament has taken away the two-thirds majority they enjoyed prior to this.
While that does not have any impact on the passing of your run-of-the-mill new bills, which only require a simple majority of those gathered in the Lower House for passage, it does affect amendments to the Federal Constitution.
Any changes to our Constitution require at least two-thirds the number of votes of all 222 MPs, not just those present in the Dewan.
That, in itself, is not a bad thing. If amendments to the Constitution tabled by the government are good things, then in a perfect world, opposition MPs, too, will vote for them.
If they are not good, then that is where the checks and balances come in, with opposition members not voting to approve them.
In fact, having a two-thirds majority can even be bad. The government of the day can push through amendments to the Constitution that are not good for the country, if it so wishes, should it have a two-thirds majority, with no one able to stop it.
All this, however, is mere theory. Would the opposition vote down a constitutional amendment, even if it was a good one, just for the sake of being the opposition?
Would the government, if it had a two-thirds majority, push through amendments that are detrimental to Malaysia? No one knows, of course, though we all hope neither scenario will ever come true.
Getting back to the matter of Muda's withdrawal, there have been many calls for Syed Saddiq and his deputy, Amira Aisya Abd Aziz, the Puteri Wangsa assemblyman in Johor, to step down so that by-elections can be held.
Syed Saddiq, who is Muar MP, has shot these down, however. He says Muda did not break the anti-party hopping laws as there was no memorandum of understanding, nor did they hop parties since it was an en bloc decision.
He is absolutely right, at least to a layman's understanding of the anti-party hopping law.
Muda did not break any laws. What is more, Amira Aisya is not bound by the anti-party hopping law, as this only applies to MPs. That is the letter of the law. Yet, could the former Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia Youth chief
be missing — or, perish the thought, ignoring — the spirit of the law?
Syed Saddiq and his party had been a great voice in support of the anti-hopping law, even before it was tabled.
In fact, writing on Twitter, when it was known as such, he said the law was to "safeguard the interests of the rakyat" and that such a law was needed to "keep all elected representatives in check".
That may be a rather ambiguous statement, but perhaps Syed Saddiq should look at what he is doing now and figure out whether he is indeed doing what he said the law should do.
He and Amira Aisya contested under an election pact with Pakatan Harapan and would have received the support of coalition supporters.
We have to face facts and admit that the vast majority of Malaysian voters cast their ballots along party lines, and in this case, party lines would have included Muda.
So, while the spirit of the law does not dictate anything, in this case, it can possibly be seen as calling for Syed Saddiq, at least, to vacate his seat so that a by-election can be held. It does not matter what his reasons for quitting the unity government were, whether it was to be a "third force" in the House, or whether he was dissatisfied with the way his party was treated in the run-up to the six recent state elections.
Give the mandate back to the people. If he is truly the choice of Muar voters, he would win the by-election and be back in Parliament in no time.
