Have Liow Tiong Lai, Mah Siew Keong and S. Subramaniam secretly agreed with UMNO to support BN government take-over of Hadi’s private member’s bill that MCA, Gerakan and MIC cannot respond positively to the Pensiangan Formula to deal with Hadi’s private member’s bill?

I have been puzzled as to why the MCA President, Datuk Liow Tiong Lai, the Gerakan President, Datuk Mah Siew Keong, the MIC President, Datuk S. Subramian is so lukewarm to my proposal of a Pensiangan Formula to address the political and constitutional stalemate created by UMNO’s support for PAS President Datuk Seri Abdul Awang Hadi’s private member’s bill to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act (Act 355).

The Pensiangan Formula came to me when I was visiting Pensiangan on Thursday, 29th December after Tenom and Keningau in the interior in Sabah, where the overwhelming majority are Christians and non-Muslims – and after the inspiring and eloquent Christmas Message of the President of the Sabah Council of Churches, Rev Jerry Dusing, calling for the truth to be told on national issues concerning the people, whether 1MDB or Hadi’s private member’s bill.

Pensiangan is the parliamentary constituency of the Tan Sri Joseph Kurup, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of national unity.

But Kurup had failed in his Ministerial duty, as the country had never been faced with greater threat to national unity arising from the triple woes of racial and religious polarisation and the failure of Putrajaya to honour the Malaysia Agreement 1963 to give equitable and fair treatment to Sabah and Sarawak in the Malaysian Federation.

As a result, Kurup was not in much of a “national unity” mindset when he warned in May this year that Sabahans and Sarawakians may demand to split from peninsular Malaysia if Hadi’s private member’s bill is passed in Parliament.

If this should come to pass, it would be the greatest tragedy for the Malaysian Federation.

What is the best way to address the political and constitutional stalemate caused by Hadi’s private member’s bill motion?

The Pensiangan Formula is probably the best approach to address the political and constitutional stalemate caused by UMNO’s support for Hadi’s private member’s bill, viz:

• Firstly, the Barisan Nasional government should not take over Hadi’s private member’s bill, which should remain on the parliamentary order paper; and
• Secondly, the formation of an all-party Parliamentary Select Committee to study and make proposals on how to strengthen inter-religious relations in Malaysia based on the Malaysian Constitution, Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) and Rukunegara, with the Parliamentary Select Committee specifically assigned to study Hadi’s private member’s bill motion.

I first spoke about the Pensiangan Formula when I was in Sook on Thursday and I am surprised at the pin-drop silence particularly from the non-UMNO parties and leaders in Barisan Nasional at this new approach to the political and constitutional stalemate caused by UMNO’s support for Hadi’s private member’s bill.

Have Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong and Datuk Seri Dr. S. Subramaniam secretly agreed with UMNO to support BN government take-over of Hadi’s private member’s bill in the March meeting of Parliament that MCA, Gerakan and MIC cannot respond positively to the Pensiangan Formula to deal with Hadi’s private member’s bill?

After the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s announcement in his UMNO Presidential speech at the UMNO General Assembly on Nov. 30 that the Barisan Nasional Government would take over Hadi’s private member’s bill after Hadi’s private member’s bill motion is passed by Parliament in the March meeting, Liow announced that the MCA and Chinese guilds and associations will set up a legal committee to look into Hadi’s private member’s bill.

Liow should convene an urgent meeting of this joint legal committee the MCA has set up with Chinese guilds and associations to discuss the Pensiangan Formula to address the political and constitutional stalemate created by UMNO’s support for Hadi’s private member’s bill.

Or is Liow estopped from taking such a move because he had given UMNO an undertaking to support the passage of Hadi’s private member’s bill motion in March Parliament as a first step for the BN government takeover of Hadi’s private member’s bill?

If Liow wants more explanation about the Pensiangan Formula, I am prepared to meet him to elucidate the matter.

But Liow and all leaders and Ministers of the 13 non-UMNO Barisan Nasional component parties should be aware that UMNO and PAS leaders are jointly meeting Malaysian students overseas to explain their co-operation on Hadi’s private member’s bill.

Furthermore, they should take note of what two UMNO leaders told the UMNO Overseas Club Alumni annual general meeting in Kuala Lumpur on 18th December last year:

• The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Jamil Kamil Khir Baharom revealing that Hadi’s Private Member’s Bill to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act (Act 355) enabled the government to circumvent the due constitutional process, as requiring consensus from all states, the National Islamic Council and the Rulers’ Conference. According to Jamil, the BN government cannot propose such a bill to the Rulers’ Conference if there is no consensus from the 14 states, but a private member’s bill requires only one state or one person to table it.
• The Deputy Minister for International Trade and Industry, Datuk Ahmad Mazlan who said that BN component parties will not be able to object against amendments to the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act (Act 355) once the relevant bill is taken over by the Federal Government as BN component parties are compelled to support the bill as part of the ruling coalition. Ahmad Mazlan went to admit that the ulterior objective of UMNO’s support for Hadi’s private member’s bill motion was to cement UMNO’s “unity” with PAS!

There is nothing in the Parliamentary Standing Orders to prevent the establishment of an all-party Parliamentary Select Committee to strengthen inter-religious relations in the country, which had lately come under considerable stress and strain because of a string of unresolved controversies. One such controversy is Hadi’s Private Member’s Bill.

An all-party Parliamentary Select Committee can be set up by way of a motion on the first day of the March meeting of Parliament.

If MCA, Gerakan, MIC, SUPP and the other Sabah and Sarawak component parties agree with the Pensiangan Formula proposal, they should also requisition a meeting of the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council as well as the Cabinet to officially adopt and endorse the Pensiangan Formula.