Liow’s admission that the Cabinet did not discuss Hadi’s private member’s bill or RUU 355 yesterday is a shocking confession of spineless misconduct and abdication of responsibility of the five MCA, Gerakan and MIC Ministers

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 is a most shocking confession of spineless misconduct and abdication of responsibility of the five MCA, Gerakan and MIC Ministers in Cabinet.

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?

Is an UMNO Minister going to propose government takeover of Hadi’s private member’s bill in the current meeting of Parliament, and MCA, Gerakan and MIC Ministers going to jointly put up a farce that they had never agreed to such a parliamentary move in Cabinet and therefore need not assume any responsibility?

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?

Liow and the other four MCA, Gerakan and MIC Ministers are really presenting real-life spectacle of the traditional monkeys with eyes that see not, ears that hear not and mouths that speak not!

What is the use of Liow and the 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 when they dared not raise the issue in Cabinet and secure a categorical 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?

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? Were Liow and the other MCA, Gerakan and MIC Ministers afraid to seek such a clarification in the Cabinet?

Liow and all the other MCA, Gerakan and MIC Ministers owe the people a full explanation for their extraordinarily spineless conduct in Cabinet yesterday.

Lim Kit Siang DAP Parliamentary Leader & MP for Gelang Patah