PETALING JAYA: DAP’s silence over PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s tabling of his Private Member’s Bill to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act has raised a few eyebrows.
MCA central committee member Datuk Chew Kok Woh noted that DAP had adopted a strangely silent stand.
“Maybe, DAP is in a guilty mood. After all, they actively advocated the Chinese voters to back PAS all the way in the 2013 general election.
“Remember DAP said PAS wouldn’t push for hudud and even organised trips to Kelantan to show it was supposedly a paradise?”
Chew, a Sabah MCA leader, said yesterday that despite loudly claiming to have severed ties with PAS, DAP state exco members in the Penang and Selangor governments were still attending meetings with them daily.
DAP leaders in Selangor, he added, should quit from the state government if PKR and PAS went along to support the motion when it is put to a vote.
Echoing his sentiments was MCA Religious Harmony Bureau chairman Datuk Seri Ti Lian Ker, who said the three DAP Selangor state executive councillors should demand the removal of the four PAS exco members in the state administration.
“DAP must self-reflect and ask themselves as to why they still share the same state government with PAS and PKR.
“MCA will quit when we have reached the line, but DAP must quit now for PAS has crossed the line by tabling the Bill against the crux of all co-operation,” Ti said.
He added that DAP should either demand that PAS be kicked out of the PKR-led Selangor government or opt out as a “matter of principle”.
Ti said MCA had consistently opposed the proposed amendments to the Act and so had DAP, but the latter continued to work alongside the Islamist party.
MCA vice-president Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun said the party was merely defending the present governance, when she was asked about comments by some Muslim leaders that MCA was interfering in Islamic affairs following its avowed stand against the proposed amendment to the Act.
“We do not want to interfere in Islamic affairs. But, when something is to lead to the change of the present system of governance, we must step in and ensure that Malaysia continues to be a secular nation,” she reiterated.
She felt it was not accurate to say that syariah laws would only apply to the Muslims.
“As is happening now in the country, non-Muslims are also affected when it comes to cases of religious conversion, custody for children and the claiming of remains,” she told reporters yesterday after launching the design concept for the Blossom Arts Festival 2016 at Wisma MCA in Kuala Lumpur.
MCA Youth chief Chong Sin Woon asserted that the chorus of dissent from Barisan Nasional component parties against the Bill was not a threat.
“It is to show that other Barisan parties are strongly against the passing of this law, but why is Umno still allowing it to happen?” Chong, who is also Deputy Education Minister, told a press conference after witnessing an MoU signing between Vocational Institute Tunku Abdul Rahman (VTAR) and Euro Star Management in Setapak yesterday.-thestar
