MCA is only against amendments to the Syariah Court (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (Act 355), not against the existing law itself.

It is therefore improper for Deputy Transport Minister Aziz Kaprawi to question MCA president Liow Tiong Lai's opposition to the amendments, MCA Religious Harmony Bureau chairperson Ti Lian Ker said in a statement today.

Aziz was recently quoted questioning why MCA was dead set against Act 355, when "it has always been in existence and MCA had supported this Act before".

"This is despite many statements, arguments and elaboration put forth by MCA on the implications of the Private Member's Bill tabled by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, that would in effect remove the federal laws' check on state legislatures such as PAS' hudud enactment, and render the latter unconstitutional.

"As a deputy minister, more so to the Minister of Transport (Liow), it is incumbent upon Aziz Kaprawi to uphold the spirit of reverence and not show open defiance and disagreement against (Liow), before giving him a hearing," said Ti, urging Aziz to argue like a lawman, not like a layman.

He added that MCA respected Islam as the religion of the federation, and was only against any amendments to Act 355 that would be ultra vires the Federal Constitution.

"MCA is against having two parallel legal systems and punishments for an identical offence when the current Penal Code provides for penalties for criminal offences that may also be present in PAS enactments in Kelantan or when PAS ruled Terengganu.

"Moreover, as repeatedly explained, any legislation that provides different weight for testimony based on religion or gender contravenes Article 8 of the Federal Constitution, which provides that everyone is equal before the law," Ti said.

MCA, Ti stressed, was just cautious about proposed amendments to Act 355 being used as a backdoor by PAS, or any other political party, to table another Private Member's Bill seeking full blown implementation of hudud enactments on all Malaysians.

Aziz's remark against Liow was malicious, claimed Ti, and thus, he asked the deputy minister to immediately retract his claim.

Among the proposed amendments to Act 355 are to cap the punishments for offences under the hudud enactments at 30 years’ jail, RM100,000 fine and 100 strokes of the rotan.