The court decision in early 1986 over the rightful Chief Minister is now history. However, the situation in Sabah by then was chaotic, with demonstrations and bombings here and there. On top of that, 6 PBS Assemblymen “jumped” meaning the PBS government could collapse anytime.
This prompted Pairin to seek a snap election barely a year after PBS formed the government.
This time, PBS fared better increasing its elected seats to 34. Plus 6 Nominated gave them 40. But still, Usno managed 12, only 4 short of 1985. If I am not mistaken, Berjaya won only one. The lone winner was the late Malek Chua in Kuamut, I think.
A current hot topic is the proposed amendment to the Federal Constitution to make party-hopping illegal. It was supposed to have been tabled and passed in Parliament a month or two ago. But what kept it on hold is the fine-tuning.
For example, if a law maker is sacked by his/her party, can that be considered as party-hopping? It is not my intention to comment on whether the proposed law is good or bad. I leave that to the politicians and readers