Pakatan Rakyat should not confuse the people by staging a show to blame each other on the action by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) of detaining an Indian bride at a Hindu temple last week nor try to shirk responsibility. All Pakatan lawmakers should be held responsible collectively over the insensitive action by Jais.

This is not the first time that Jais has acted without notifying the Pakatan-led Selangor government and there is no common stand from the state government. People are tired of seeing a blame game but demand an explanation from the state government.

Although DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang announced that the Selangor menteri besar has guaranteed that such an incident would not occur any more, it is not the first time that Jais has acted without notifying the state government. So how could he guarantee that Jais would not do it again since Jais has never taken the state government seriously?

Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim lamented that Jais had embarrassed the state government but why has the state government never taken any action to reprimand Jais for its violation of a state government directive? Who is calling the shots now?

The state government has warned Jais that it must follow the standard operating procedure and any officer who refused to abide the directive will face disciplinary action. Since it is not the first time for Jais to act without the state government’s knowledge, the warning by the state government is merely rhetoric.

With the PAS ulama council supporting the Jais action, this shows that component parties in Pakatan Rakyat do not care about partnership but for their own agenda. So how will they be able to run this country should they be given the mandate?

SENATOR CHONG SIN WOON is MCA Youth national chairperson.