I am prepared to meet Liow Tiong Tai and find out whether it is true that Najib never told him in advance about Azalina’s Ministerial motion to give priority to Hadi’s private member bill in Parliament last Thursday

I am prepared to meet with MCA President and Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, to find out whether it is true that the Malaysian Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak never told him beforehand about the Ministerial motion by the Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in Parliament after lunch-break on Thursday to give priority to PAS President Datuk Seri Awang Hadi’s hudud private member’s bill motion.

However, if Najib had told him beforehand about Azalina’s Ministerial motion, Liow should explain what he had done to stop Azalina from proceeding with the Ministerial motion, which not only violated the Cabinet decision the previous week but also the consensus of the Barisan Nasional leadership in March last year.

Liow’s professed ignorance of Azalina’s Ministerial motion last Thursday is a great political mystery, as a day earlier on Wednesday, a Minister and head of a Barisan Nasional component party from Sabah had written an urgent letter to Najib expressing the opposition of the MPs of his party to any proposal to prioritise Hadi’s hudud private members’ bill motion.

Liow has said that Azalina’s Ministerial motion prioritizing Hadi’s private member’s bill is against the Barisan Nasional spirit, warning that if Hadi’s hudud amendment bill is passed in Parliament, there will be a constitutional crisis, while the MCA Deputy President and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong had as good as described Azalina’s motion as “an attempt to disrupt the country’s diversity” which should be “opposed to the end and there should not be any grounds for ambiguity”.

Will Liow, when he meets Najib before Friday’s Cabinet meeting, impress on the Prime Minister on the importance and urgency of ensuring that there should not be any grounds for ambiguity on Hadi’s motion?

Before the occurrence of the constitutional crisis referred to by Liow, there is clearly already an Barisan Nasional crisis on a fundamental issue affecting the constitutional basis and the political future of the country.

Has the MCA President requisitioned an emergency meeting of the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council before the Cabinet meeting on Friday to resolve the BN crisis caused by Azalina’s Ministerial motion in Dewan Rakyat last Thursday?

Would the MCA President table a resolution at the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council emergency meeting before Friday’s Cabinet meeting for the restoration of the status quo ante before Azalina’s Ministerial motion in Parliament last Thursday by sacking Azalina as Minister and Datuk Rosnah Abdul Raashid Shirlin (who seconded the motion) as Deputy Works Minister and a Cabinet repudiation of the Ministerial motion by the Azalina and Rosnah in Parliament last Thursday.

I am prepared to meet Liow any time. Just name the place, date and time.

Lim Kit Siang DAP Parliamentary Leader & MP for Gelang Patah