In a statement today the DAP parliamentary leader said the five ministers owe the public a full explanation for this failure.
“The admission by the MCA President and the Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai that the Cabinet yesterday did not discuss the Federal Government-led Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act amendments (RUU 355) is a most shocking confession of spineless misconduct and abdication of responsibility of the five MCA, Gerakan and MIC ministers in Cabinet,” he said.
Liow was reported in The Star as saying that the issue was not brought up at the meeting.
“There’s no new development on the RUU 355 bill. It was not brought up in today’s meeting,” he said.
PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang had originally tabled it as a private member’s bill, but the government later said it would table the bill instead with some changes.
The bill seeks to increase the punishment to 30 years jail, a fine of up to RM100,000 and up to 100 strokes of the cane.
“How can Liow claim that ‘there’s no new development on the RUU 355 Bill’ when the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi announced last week that the government will take over Hadi’s private member’s bill at the current meeting of Parliament?” Lim asked.
“Are we going to repeat the rigmarole of previous Parliaments where Umno ministers gave priority to PAS President Datuk Seri Hadi Awang’s private member’s bill and greeted by dutiful dismay by MCA, Gerakan and MIC Ministers and MPs who feigned shock claiming that they did not know of such a move beforehand?”
Lim, who is Gelang Patah MP, also asked if an Umno minister will propose a government takeover of Hadi’s bill in the current meeting of Parliament, with MCA, Gerakan and MIC Ministers putting up a farce that they had never agreed to such a parliamentary move in the Cabinet and therefore need not assume any responsibility.
“Liow and the other four MCA, Gerakan and MIC Ministers are really presenting a real-life spectacle of the traditional monkeys with eyes that see not, ears that hear not and mouths that speak not!”
“Did Liow seek clarification at the Cabinet meeting about news reports that the Prime Minister has secured the ‘non-opposition’ of the Sabah and Sarawak BN MPs with the provision that Sabah and Sarawak would specifically be excluded from the bill?” Lim asked.
“Were Liow and the other MCA, Gerakan and MIC Ministers afraid to seek such a clarification in the Cabinet?”
He also questioned the effectiveness of Liow and other MCA ministers meeting with representatives from the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia, Federation of Hokkien Associations Malaysia and the Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia after the Cabinet meeting
He said they had not even dared to raise the issue in Cabinet and secure a commitment that there will be no government takeover of Hadi’s private member’s bill in the current meeting of Parliament unless there is consensus and agreement in the Cabinet.