It is time for MCA to review its position in the BN 'cooperation model' if Umno remains unchanged in its apparent support for the the Private Member's Bill on hudud, says the party's Youth wing.

MCA Youth believes that Umno members technically support the Hudud Bill tabled by PAS, which it claims undermines the Federal Constitution.

"My party strongly condemns this irresponsible behaviour, which seriously undermines the spirit of the BN coalition.

"If Umno's stand remains unchanged, it is time for my party to review the BN cooperation model," its Youth chief Chong Sin Woon said in a statement today.

Chong said that MCA strongly opposed the Hudud Bill because it would breach national laws and influence people's life in all aspects.

He stressed that MCA would not compromise on any matter that disrupted national unity or played up issues that would affect religious and racial harmony.

"Undermining the Federal Constitution is a serious matter. My party insists on protecting the constitutional system which had been agreed upon since independence, that is, a multiracial peaceful coexistence, secularism, religious freedom and tolerance.

"If we make a full set of legislations in accordance with the teachings of a particular religious system, this obviously contradicts the universal values and national consensus," said Chong.

He also criticised DAP for asking the public to support Pakatan Rakyat and also indirectly, PAS, which was then a member of the now defunct opposition alliance, in the last general election.

"This has increased PAS' arrogance. Therefore, DAP must be responsible for its shortsightedness (in supporting PAS for political mileage at the time," he said.

He said that MCA would continue to safeguard the Federal Constitution, national unity, and the democratic way of life.

Chong was commenting on the unusual incident in Parliament yesterday when the government chose to defer its business and let a Private Member's Bill by PAS Marang MP Abdul Hadi Awang (photo) to be tabled.

The bill, which seeks to amend federal laws governing the jurisdiction of the syariah court, will allow the implementation of hudud in Kelantan.

As it is, its existing state hudud enactment stands powerless without federal laws allowing the syariah court to have jurisdiction over criminal matters.

Bypasses parliamentary procedures

In a related matter, MCA Central Committee member Senator Koh Chin Han accused Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Azlina Othman Said of bypassing parliamentary procedures to fast-track the Hudud Bill.

Koh argued that Azalina's motion to expedite the tabling of Hadi’s Hudud Bill, which was the 15th and final item in the Parliament’s papers, by bringing it forward for debate, went against convention.

He cited Standing Order 15(1), which states that “on every day’s sitting, the government shall take precedence over other matters”.

"Azalina also bypassed the normal procedures in Parliament and disrupted the legislative process of tabling the Bill by fast tracking it," he said in a statement.

Koh (photo) argued that this showed that Azalina "lacks accountability" and is "irresponsible".

He reiterated that MCA would not support any bill in Parliament that grants powers to implement hudud in the country.

MCA syariah law and policy implementation taskforce chairperson Gan Ping Sieu also joined the choir condemning the collaborating of Umno with PAS to expedite the Hadi's bill.

"Umno is playing a dangerous political game by embarking on the perilous course of allowing Hadi to implement the proposed unconstitutional Islamic criminal law," Gan said in a separate statement.

Destabilise political framework

He cautioned that the move could destabilise Malaysia's political framework and threaten to tear apart the federation as it contravened fundamental rights and liberties as set in our constitution and provisions of the Malaysia agreement.

The MCA leader also warned that the move may undermine the relationship among BN component parties, and was a blatant breach of the BN decision-making process, as it bypassed the BN supreme council on a matter of such importnance.

Gan argued that there are texts in Islamic jurisprudence which argued against the implementation of Islamic criminal law in a contemporary society, as it may be against the Islamic tenets of compassion and justice.

He called on Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, at this critical juncture of nation-building, to show political leadership and reiterate his commitment in 2011 not to implement Islamic criminal law despite the aspirations of PAS.

"No amount of short-term political gain can ever justify the constitutional duty to this nation, as undertaken by political leaders when taking their oath as legislators and assuming public posts," Gan concluded.