MCA Youth chief Chong Sin Woon has declared victory in Putrajaya's decision to not take over PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang's bill to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965.

Chong said that this was the result of perseverance by MCA and the other component parties of the Barisan Nasional.

"BN supreme council's decision, based on BN's consensus model, was that the government does not take over the Act 355 amendment bill.

"MCA and other BN component parties persevered (on this issue) and we have succeeded," Chong wrote on his Facebook page today.

His Facebook post tagged MCA president Liow Tiong Lai and deputy presnident Wee Ka Siong. At the time of writing, the top two MCA leaders were yet to respond to the issue.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak announced last night, after the BN supreme council meeting, that Putrajaya would not be taking over Hadi's bill.

Najib said this was done in accordance with the BN consensus model and that the fate of Hadi's bill would be decided by the Dewan Rakyat speaker.

This came as a surprise because Najib previously told the Umno general assembly that Putrajaya would take over the bill and that Umno would continue cooperating with PAS on Islamic affairs.

Meanwhile, MCA vice-president Chew Mei Fun urged Malaysians to hold more inter-faith dialogues, in light of months of divisive talks on Hadi's hudud bill.

Chew said that this would help soothe doubts or suspicions and open room for consensus. This would also help the country develop as a multi-ethnic society, in line with the Federal Constitution.

Chew added that Putrajaya's decision to not take over Hadi's bill was a turning point for Malaysia, because the bill had caused a lot of misunderstanding among the various ethnic groups in the country.