It has been a week since the Kelantan state assembly unanimously passed the Syariah Criminal Code (II) 1993 (Amendment 2015) Bill.

Since then, MCA and Gerakan have been demanding that the DAP should sever ties with PAS.

But these two parties, which are known to have no backbone, have not answered the most basic question which has been thrown at them, that is, why did they agree to allow the 12 Umno assemblypersons to support the bill.

Is this a sign that they and Umno have decided to abandon the longstanding BN policy that hudud law implementation is against Malaysian constitution and the 1963 Malaysia Agreement?

This is the most basic question that these two parties must answer before making demands on DAP.

In fact, they must also answer why they did not raise any objection when Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Jamil Khir Baharom had told Parliament on March 27 last year that Umno would support a private member’s bill if it is tabled in Parliament.

The hudud law is a very important and fundamental issue that MCA and Gerakan and all the component BN parties must not take lightly or think that they can divert public attention from their failure by starting a verbal political war against the DAP .

If MCA, Gerakan and MIC are committed to the longstanding BN policy that hudud law is against the Malaysian constitution and the 1963 Malaysia Agreement, then the minimum that they must immediately do is to ‘force’ the cabinet and the prime minister to state that BN will not support hudud law in Parliament.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak ought to have declared his government’s stand without any delay.

This is a fundamental issue which involves a longstanding policy where no time is needed to discuss what should be Umno and BN stand. So why is the prime minister keeping silent on the issue till today?

Is Najib’s silence a sign that BN is going to deviate from its longstanding policy?

While Najib continues to remain silent, MCA, Gerakan and MIC should immediately and publicly declare that they will quit BN if the prime minister supports the hudud law in Parliament.

M KULASEGARAN is DAP national vice-chairperson and MP for Ipoh Barat.