fbp
Current Affairs

10 Kataks Who Still Have Their Parliament Seats Despite Party-Hopping Antics

Epic lompat skills.

Throughout Malaysia’s political history, we have seen plenty of politicians from both sides of the divide switching party allegiance multiple times.

- Advertisements -

However, with the Anti-Hopping law coming into effect starting Oct 5, there’s a possibility that we’ll see less politicians jumping like ‘kataks’ (frogs) this GE15 as doing so will require them to forfeit their Parliamentary seat.

- Advertisements -

Here are 10 of such ‘kataks’ (aka party hoppers) who hopped from one party to another without losing their seat! (Note: This occurred before the Anti-Hopping law was in effect)

1. Zuraida binti Kamaruddin

Datuk Zuraida binti Kamaruddin served as Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities in the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration under Prime Minister (PM) Ismail Sabri Yaakob since August 2021.

- Advertisements -

Prior to that, Zuraida was elected as Ampang MP under the PKR banner during the 2008 general election.

She was also a PKR member from 2008 to 2020 and served as Women Chief from May 2007 to November 2018 and Vice President from November 2018 to February 2020.

She later left PKR for the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU), a component party of the former ruling PN coalition, where her membership lasted from February 2020 to May 2022.

Zuraida later quit BERSATU and joined Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM), a party aligned with the ruling BN coalition, where she was elected president.

2. Dr. Edmund Santhara

Datuk Seri Dr. Edmund Santhara served as Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture under the BN administration since August 2021.

During GE13, Dr Santhara vied for the Hulu Selangor parliamentary seat as an independent candidate but gained only 1.33% of the vote. The following GE, he took another shot as a PKR candidate and won.

- Advertisements -

However, he resigned from PKR and joined BERSATU in September 2020 as an associate member, making him the first non-Bumiputera politician to enter the party.

He reportedly quit BERSATU in July 2022, something that has yet to be confirmed by him. According to his deputy in the associate wing Dr Chong Fat Full, he claimed that Dr Santhara only intended to resign as the head of its associate member’s wing and not leave the party outright.

Nevertheless, Dr Santhara’s BERSATU membership was subsequently revoked after it was announced that he was joining PBM in October.

- Advertisements -

3. Mohamaddin bin Ketapi

Datuk Mohamaddin bin Ketapi served as the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture in the PH administration under former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad from July 2018 to February 2020.

He contested the Silam parliamentary seat as an independent in the 1990 general election but did not succeed. He then joined United Sabah Party (PBS) as a member from 1985 to 2018, where he was elected MP under the Heritage Party (Warisan) banner.

He served as Silam MP from May 2018 to October 2019 before becoming Lahad Datu MP in October 2019.

- Advertisements -

He continued to be a Warisan member until 30 October 2021, where he left the party and became an independent in support of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS). He later joined Bersatu on 26 November 2021, before going independent once more to support BN and GRS on 28 June 2022.

On 28 August 2022, Mohamaddin joined PBM and has since served as its State Chairman.

4. Hajah Mas Ermieyati binti Samsudin

Datuk Wira Hajah Mas Ermieyati binti Samsudin served as Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department during Ismail Sabri’s tenure as Prime Minister the BN administration since August 2021.

As a BN candidate, Mas Ermieyati was elected as Masjid Tanah MP to represent UMNO in the 2013 general election.

She was an UMNO member from 2001 to 2018 before resigning from the party and becoming an independent following BN’s shocking defeat in the 2018 general election.

She later joined Bersatu in 2019 and has been its member since then. She was also appointed as its Deputy Women Chief.

5. Hamzah bin Zainudin

Dato’ Seri Hamzah bin Zainudin has served as Minister of Home Affairs for two consecutive terms since August 2021.

Hamzah was elected to the House of Representatives and earned the Larut parliamentary seat in the 2008 general election as a UMNO candidate.

He stayed as an UMNO member until December 2018, where he resigned from the party and went independent for several months. On Feb 12, 2019, he joined Bersatu and became its first Secretary-General in August 2020.

6. Dr. Maszlee bin Malik

Dr. Maszlee bin Malik served as the Minister of Education during Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) 22 months in power.

Maszlee became Simpang Renggam MP in the 2018 general election as a Bersatu candidate.

He was initially a PKR member since 2017 but later joined Bersatu in March 2018, where his PKR membership was terminated in May 2020.

After being an independent for three months, he entered Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (PEJUANG) in August 2020. However, he left and went independent again in November 2020.

Mazlee rejoined PKR in November 2021 and has been there since.

7. Azmin Ali

Dato’ Seri Mohamed Azmin bin Ali served as Senior Minister of the Economic Cluster and as Minister of International Trade and Industry since August 2021.

10 kataks who still have their parliament seats despite party-hopping antics
Photo via FB/Azmin Ali

He was elected Gombak MP in the 2008 general election as a PKR candidate and was reelected twice.

After his sacking from UMNO in 1998, Azmin and Anwar Ibrahim founded Parti Keadilan Nasional (Keadilan), which later came to be known as PKR.

He was a member of the party until August 2020, when he decided to leave for Bersatu.

8. Dr. Xavier Jayakumar

Dr. Xavier Jayakumar s/o Arulanandam was the Minister of Water, Land and Natural Resources in the PH administration from July 2018 to February 2020.

Dr Xavier contested the Ampang parliamentary seat in the 2004 general election as a PKR candidate, where he only got 28.87% of the votes.

He competed again in the 2018 general election, this time for the Kuala Langat seat, where he emerged victorious and served as its MP May 2018.

Having joined PKR since1998, Dr Xavier served as vice-president but resigned from the party in 2021, went independent for a year, and joined PBM alongside Dr Santhara on Oct 1, 2022.

9. Rozman Isli

Datuk Rozman Isli has served as Labuan MP since May 2013 after being elected as an UMNO candidate.

He stayed as an UMNO member until October 2018 where he left for Warisan. He has since become a member of the party and is currently its Division Chairman.

10. Larry Sng Wei Shien

Datuk Larry Sng Wei Shien was Julau MP since May 2018 after being elected to parliament in GE14 as an independent candidate.

10 kataks who still have their parliament seats despite party-hopping antics
Photo via FB/Larry Sng

After going independent for two years following his resignation from the Sarawak Workers Party (SWP) in April 2016, Larry joined PKR after his victory in the 2018 general election.

However, he quit the party and reverted to be an independent MP in February 2021, albeit aligned with then Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and the PN administration.

On Nov 19, 2021, he announced the formation of Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) and is currently a member. He went on to be its president from Jan 8, 2022 to Oct 7, 2022 before handing it over to Zuraida Kamaruddin.

Are there any other party-hoppers we have left out? Let us know in the comments!

READ ALSO:


Weirdkaya is on instagram!
For more stories like this, follow WeirdKaya on Facebook and Instagram!


We are hiring writers!
We are hiring writers!