The Free Malaysia Today report by Anjulie Ngan “MCA anticipates cabinet reshuffle soon” today is double confirmation – of imminent Cabinet reshuffle but no imminent principled stand by MCA President Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai and Gerakan President Datuk Mah Siew Keong whose only concern is to get back into Cabinet at whatever cost.
Liow told the reporter that he anticipated Najib to have a cabinet reshuffle soon but he did not know exactly when – as this is up to Najib to decide.
But isn’t Liow, together with Mah, going to ask Najib to put on hold any Cabinet reshuffle as MCA and Gerakan will not be part of Barisan Nasional Cabinet until UMNO can give a solemn undertaking that it would not push for implementation of hudud law whether at federal or state level?
This is not just because of the Umno Selangor Assemblyman for Sungai Air Tawar Kamarol Zaki Abdul Malik’s motion in the Selangor State Assembly next week to push for the implementation of hudud.
Kamarol’s motion is just one of triple UMNO actions in the past three months which showed that MCA, Gerakan and the other 10 Barisan Nasional component parties have no say whatsoever in Barisan Nasional policy decision-making and what UMNO says, does and decides are the law in Barisan Nasional.
The other two incidents were:
• The Parliament speech by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Jamil Khir Baharom on March 27 that the federal government was ready to work with the PAS Kelantan state government to implement the hudud law in Kelantan. • The speech by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak in Alor Setar on April 24 that the Barisan Nasional Federal Government had never rejected hudud.
What Najib and Jamil said were not only unilateral but arbitrary as they had never been the original Barisan Nasional stand, and furthermore, violate an important BN principle that any change of Barisan Nasional policy must be the result of the consensus of all component parties and not unilaterally and arbitrarily by any one party, even if it is UMNO.
Up to now, neither Liow nor Mah dare to point out that what Najib said on April 24 and what Jamil said on March 27 were never the Barisan Nasional Federal Government’s stand, which went back to the UMNO, MCA and MIC founders like Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Tan Cheng Lock, Tun Tan Siew Sin and Tun V.T. Sambanthan as they were very clear that hudud was inconsistent with the secular 1957 Merdeka constitution and the 1963 Malaysia Constitution, and none of them would ever say what Najib said on April 24 and what Jamil said on March 27.
Now there is a Selangor State Assemblyman moving a motion aimed at pushing for the implementation of hudud in Selangor.
Both Liow and Mah should seriously reconsider whether it is not time that they should take a stand and call on Najib to put on hold on any Cabinet reshuffle to bring MCA and Gerakan back into the Cabinet until UMNO can give a solemn undertaking that it will not push for implementation of hudud law whether at federal or state level, or do they want to go down in history as politicians who are prepared to be Ministers regardless of political principles?