COMMENT Gerakan has to remember that it is part of the BN, which is part of the federal government that also plays a part in the federal government decisions.

Selangor Gerakan Youth vice-chief Ivanpal Singh should first remember that the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (Act 355) amendment, which was proposed by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, has received support from Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (who is also the BN parliamentary whip), and was arranged to be tabled by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman during the parliamentary sitting last May.

What was Gerakan president Mah Siew Keong doing as part of the federal cabinet?

From the very first day, DAP’s position is clear that we will not support the amendments in Parliament. In fact in 2015, the amendments to Kelantan's Syariah Criminal Code 1993 was passed with the unanimous support of BN assemblypersons, an act that was not criticised by Gerakan at all.

The Act 355 amendment, which may be debated in the upcoming parliamentary sitting, is a federal matter now, which is being taken over by the federal government that Gerakan is part of.

DAP has no reason to resign from the Selangor government (as Ivanpal has suggested) as the bill is being tabled in Parliament and not the Selangor state legislative assembly.

Also there was a major mandate given to DAP to be part of the Selangor government, compared to Gerakan (in the federal government) when it only has two parliamentary seats.

Admit Umno role in Hadi's bill

Gerakan has to stop denying that Umno has a hand in the current amendment which is also supported by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Jamil Khir Baharom, who also appeared in the recently-concluded rally in Padang Merbok to support Act 355.

Gerakan and other BN component parties such as MCA, MIC and others should be ashamed that they’re subservient to ‘big brother’ Umno over this matter, which may just polarise the nation in the long run.

They should be collectively responsible over this whole matter.

The latest ‘romantic’ relationship between Umno and PAS has already proven how Umno treats its own allies in the BN.

Nevertheless, political parties such as Gerakan has been spineless all along, which caused them to get decimated to irrelevance in Penang back in 2008.

SHAKIR AMEER is MBSA councillor and DAP Youth executive secretary (publicity).

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.