MCA president Liow Tiong Lai and Gerakan president Mah Siew Keong have threatened to resign from the Cabinet if PAS President, Hadi Awang’s hudud bill is passed.

Liow is the Transport Minister while Mah is Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.

Liow said: “I’m trying to stop it, I’m trying to get all the (BN) component parties to stop it.

“I am urging both sides of the political divide to come together and stop this Bill.”

Instead of making meaningless statements after the horses had bolted, Liow and Mah should restore the status quo ante before the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, stood up in Parliament after Thursday’s lunch break to propose the Ministerial motion to give priority to Hadi’s hudud motion, which was listed as Item 15 in the Order Paper, leapfrogging 14 other items including five items of official business.

Azalina’s motion was seconded by the Deputy Works Minister Datuk Rosnah Abdul Raashid Shirlin.

Two actions must be taken to restore the status quo ante – firstly, the sacking of Azalina as Minister and Rosnah as Deputy Minister for unilaterally proposing and seconding the motion in Parliament, which had violated both the spirit and commitment of Barisan Nasional that such a motion would not be supported by BN MPs and secondly, the Cabinet repudiation of the Ministerial motion by the Azalina and Rosnah on Thursday.

Hadi’s hudud private bill member motion would lapse in the October meeting of Parliament unless there is another Ministerial motion to give it priority for parliamentary debate and vote ahead of government official business.

The best way to ensure that there would be no repetition of the Thursday farce would be a clear-cut stand by the Barisan Nasional government to restore status quo ante, with the sacking of Azalina and Rosnah as Minister and Deputy Minister respectively and the Cabinet adopting a resolution repudiating Azalina’s Ministerial motion in Parliament last Thursday.

If Liow and Mah are not prepared to restore the status quo ante before Azalina’s Ministerial motion on Thursday, they would not have much credibility even if they make all sorts of promises and threats.

Threats of quitting the Cabinet makes news headlines, but how credible are they?

Why Liow or Mah are not heard making threats that they will quit the Cabinet if the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak fails to give prompt, satisfactory and full accountability and responsibility for the nation’s first global financial scandal, which had catapulted Malaysia as one of the world’s foremost corrupt nations – especially with the crackdown and prosecutions being initiated by other countries against institutions and individuals connected with 1MDB money-laundering and corruption?

Or have Liow and Mah come to accept that there is no way to prevent Malaysia from becoming notorious as a nation associated with global corruption or to demand responsibility and accountability for the 1MDB global financial scandal?

In any event, both Liow and Mah should explain what they had done to stop Azalina from moving the Ministerial motion in Parliament after lunch on Thursday, as by Thursday morning, it was virtually an open secret known even to the media that Azalina was slated to move the Ministerial motion to give priority to Hadi’s private member’s bill motion.

In fact, a day earlier on Wednesday, a Minister and head of a Barisan Nasional component party from Sabah had written an urgent letter to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak expressing the opposition of the MPs of his party to any proposal to prioritise Hadi’s hudud private members’ bill motion as it was against the consensus of all Barisan Nasional leaders at a meeting in March 2015, as well as against the Cabinet decision the previous week on 20th May 2016.

What did Liow and Mah do in the 24 hours before Azalina moved the Minister’s motion to give priority to Hadi’s private member’s bill motion on Thursday after lunch?

Lets wait for their answer as well as whether they are prepared to restore status quo ante which is the surest guarantee that the Barisan Nasional spirit, commitment and brand are still trustworthy, honest and credible.