Are we in the last ten days or fortnight of the 44-year-old Barisan Nasional founded by Tun Razak in 1973 as a consensus-based political coalition if UMNO imposes hegemony by unilaterally taking over PAS President Datuk Seri Hadi Awang’s private member’s bill on RUU 355, whether on April 6 (the last day of the present Parliamentary meeting) or on April 10 (extension of present Parliament)?

Will Barisan Nasional totally change its character in the next 10 to 14 days from a political coalition where there must be the 3Cs, consultation, consensus and consent from and with everyone of the 13 Barisan Nasional component parties before a policy, measure or decision can become Barisan Nasional government policy, measure or decision into one where the Barisan Nasional is only a coalition in name but accepts UMNO hegemony, where what UMNO leaders want and desire become the law in Barisan Nasional?

If Barisan Nasional remains true to its founding principles as a consensus-based coalition as when it was formed by Tun Razak in 1973, then what the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi announced on March 18 that the government will takeover and move Hadi’s private member’s bill this Parliament without consultation, consensus or consent from the 12 other parties in Barisan Nasional should not have taken place.

What’s more, if such a fundamental breach of the consensus principle had taken place under the previous Barisan Nasional Prime Ministers, the leaders of the other component parties would have spoken up and even protested, and the previous Barisan Nasional coalition would have rectified such a fundamental breach of the consensus principle at the next available Cabinet meeting.

But nothing happened at the next available Cabinet meeting after Zahid’s fundamental breach of the Barisan Nasional consensus principle – which was on Friday, 25th March 2017.

None other than the MCA President and Transport Minister, Datuk Sri Liow Tiong Lai confirmed that at last Friday’s Cabinet meeting, the Ministers did not discuss Zahid’s unilateral announcement and fundamental breach of the consensus principle of the 13 BN component parties.

Why was this case?

Why didn’t the 15 non-UMNO Ministers in the 35-Minister Cabinet have the guts, gumption, principle and conviction to raise the subject of Zahid’s fundamental breach of BN’s consensus principle and to demand a public clarification from Zahid that he was at most speaking on behalf of UMNO, but not the Barisan Nasional as there had been no 3Cs on the issue – consultation, consensus and consent from all the 13 BN component parties.

There are reports that Sarawak and Sabah will be completely excluded from the proposed legislation, which will result in “one country, three laws” situation in Malaysia.

Such provision will also be most divisive for nation-building, as it will be quite impossible to implement “one country, three laws”, as questions that would be raised would be the status of Sarawakians and Sabahans in Peninsular Malaysia – are they affected by the proposed legislation or not?

When an UMNO Minister stands up in Parliament to take over Hadi’s private member’s bill, will all the Ministers and MPs from the other 12 non-UMNO parties in Barisan Nasional declare their dissociation from UMNO and BN, resulting in the dissolution of BN, or will they just accept the new situation and the fact that BN is no more a consensus-based coalition but one based on UMNO hegemony, where what UMNO leaders say and want are the new law and operational principles in Barisan Nasional?

Can the leaders and Ministers from MCA, Gerakan, MIC, SUPP, PBB, PBS and the other Sabah/Sarawak BN parties throw light on this issue, or they are utterly muddled and confused, but accept UMNO hegemony in BN?