MCA Religious Harmony Bureau chairman Ti Lian Ker said it showed the MCA under Liow Tiong Lai had the backbone to stand up and speak up for the minorities in the nation.
The motion was first tabled by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang in the Dewan Rakyat in May 2016 as a private member’s bill. He then retabled it in November with some changes. Later, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced that the federal government would take over and table the bill.
Yesterday, however, Prime Minister Najib Razak said the government had called off the plan after taking into account the consensus of the Barisan Nasional coalition parties.
Except for Umno, all other coalition partners were against the bill. Some of them, including those from Sarawak, were very vocal against it.
Ti said in a statement today that the MCA had “taken over the task of speaking up on behalf of the voices of minorities” in opposing Hadi’s bill.
“Now that the MCA has succeeded in stopping the government from adopting Hadi’s RUU 355, and MCA president Datuk Seri Liow had shown that he did not cave in to political pressure and muscling in by Umno and PAS, we must evaluate and call on the DAP to stand its ground by quitting the Selangor state government or expelling PAS. “
Saying the DAP had asked the MCA and other BN component party leaders to quit the BN government should they fail to stop Umno from going ahead with the bill, Ti asked: So why is the DAP not quitting the Pakatan government in Selangor? Why is DAP continuing its politically “illicit” relationship with PAS in Selangor?
“Is Lim Kit Siang playing with fire by compromising DAP and continuing their association with PAS in the Selangor government knowing the potential damage that PAS could cost to our multi racial harmony? It is time for DAP to walk the talk and not talk and talk with a tongue that’s forked.”
Meanwhile, the MIC’s S Vell Paari lauded Najib’s decision on RUU 355 as a positive development.
The RUU 355 bill, he said in a statement, had caused unease among BN component parties.
“I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the president of MIC, MCA, Gerakan and all Sabah/Sarawak parties for standing firm in opposing the amendments to RUU355.”
He said the consensus among all BN parties that the government would not table the bill, clearly demonstrated that the BN “is very profesional in handling sensitive issues and all issues can be resolved via informed discussion and negotiations”.
Vell Paari also praised the late Sarawak chief minister Adenan Satem who had opposed the bill and any implementation of hudud in Sarawak and for “taking into consideration the ethnic composition of the state”.
He said Adenan’s “heroic act” had given strength to all the component party presidents to continue the fight against the government tabling the RUU 355 bill.
Just as Ti had done, Vell Paari took a dig at the DAP, describing it as a “hypocrite party”.
“On one hand we have (MP) Anthony Loke’s video where he goes around saying that non-Muslims should not be afraid of hudud but on another hand we have Lim Kit Siang telling the non-Muslims to be afraid of hudud. This shows that DAP will do anything and even lie to the rakyat just to obtain power and support,” he added.