No party hopping please, rebuild the economy

By Zaidi Isham Ismail

There is a famous saying among the investment community  - uncertainty will only drive away investors.

And this uncertainty has been abated with the conclusion of the just ended state elections in Sabah.

And the new chief minister had also taken his oath.

But wait a minute? Is it really over? Will there be no party hopping among the state assemblymen?

Let's not count our eggs just yet until they are hatched.

Let's wait for a week or two until the dust settles.

Will there be any party hopping in the next few weeks?

Netizens are already poking fun at the Sabah politicians on social media.

"The elections are now over. It's now time to see the frogs hop from one party to another," said netizens.

After all, Gabungan Rakyat Sabah just won 38 seats compared to Warisan Plus 32.

The majority won by GRS is so fragile and anything can happen on the political front in the next few weeks.

This is the most likely anticipation among the rakyat in the next few weeks or even days if the country's politicians don't stop flip flopping.

It was bad enough when Sabah's former chief minister Tan Sri Musa Aman had to throw in the spanner to disrupt the relative peace in the "Negeri di bawah bayu," before the elections.

And then we had to contend with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim disrupting the peace by shaking the status quo.

Granted that the Malays in this country will never be united.

Political fiascos will always be part and parcel of Malaysia.

But they should at least be mindful of the current economic and health conditions in the country before making their "langkah Kajang" or "langkah Sheraton" and the likes.

We are now in the middle of a pandemic and they really must stop bickering among themselves or jump ship.

An estimated 800,000 Malaysians have lost their jobs and the economy contracted in the last quarter.

Malaysia like any country in the world is facing challenges such as the closing of its borders, lethargic exports and tourists are barred from entry.

Politicians should not aggravate the situation by being selfish and flail their vested interests to disrupt the economy.

And now a large part of Sabah has been put under lockdown as it recorded more than 1,000 COVID-19 cases after the polls.

Malaysia should quickly amend the Federal Constitution and snuff party hopping once and for all.

It's time to put behind all these political shennanigans which many suspect is not over yet.

All it takes is for 6 GRS state assemblymen to defect to Warisan and the political stability will be rocked once again.

Enough is enough.

It is time to rebuild the economy and woo back investors.

Time for the politicians to bury the hatchet, move forward and transform Sabah from being the poorest state in Malaysia.- DagangNews.com

The writer is former NST Business assistant editor