"Why was there no action taken?" was the question posed by MCA to the Barisan Nasional today regarding Umno representatives who did not vote according to the coalition's stand previously.

A statement in Mandarin posted on the MCA official website

said at least five Umno state representatives had failed to toe the party line on two occasions.

The first incident, the party said, was when the Kelantan state legislature passed the Syariah Enactment in November 1993.

"The state assembly (which has two Umno reps) had voted unanimously for the law, with the exception of two PAS representatives who were on a sick leave then," it said.

The second was when the Terengganu state assembly passed the Syariah Criminal Offences (hudud and qisas) Bill on July 8 this year.

"When voting on the bill, 28 members supported it, three abstained and one was absent. The three who abstained were all from Umno Abdul Rashid Ngah from Seberang Takir, Rasol Wahid from Ajil, Abu Bakar Mohamad Ali from Kemasik. The one absent was Tengku Putera Tengku Awang from Telemong."

The party pointed out that this went against the grain of BN leaders' stand which has always opposed the Syariah law because it contravenes the Federal Constitution. Yet, "there were no action (taken against them)".

The statement was not available in English.

Willing to listen

In recent weeks, two MCA state assembly members in Penang have come under fire for breaching BN discipline.

The duo Lim Boo Chang (Datuk Keramat) and Tang Cheng Liang (Jawi) had abstained from voting on a motion tabled by DAP in the state assembly to defer the RM1 billion Penang Outer Ring Road project (Porr).

Enraged, several Umno and Gerakan leaders called on the BN to sack the duo as all front members had been briefed by Penang Chief Minister Dr Koh Tsu Koon on the importance of consensus prior to the assembly proceedings.

Umno president Dr Mahathir Mohamad had said his party is recommending that the duo be sacked, but added that he would leave the decision to MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik on advice by the ruling coalition.

In response, Ling said in newspapers today that "MCA is always willing to listen to views and advice from its friends in the Barisan Nasional. They have been patient and have given us very good advice".