The Chinese media today reported former MCA president Datuk Chua Soi Lek’s interview on MCA’s handling of the hudud controversy, where among other things; he had criticized MCA president Liow Tiong Lai’s use of wrong strategy in tackling the hudud controversy.
He said that if he was the president, he would have gone to see the Prime Minister with other component parties of Barisan Nasional, and request that hudud issue be listed as an item for the discussion BN supreme council.
Chua did not give reason why he thought Liow had failed to requisition an emergency meeting of the BN supreme council meeting. As Chua is no longer MCA president, there is no point to discuss if he would actually do what he now advises Liow if he was still MCA president.
Why did Liow not requisition a BN supreme council meeting? The reason is that Liow and MCA leaders have always known that in the BN coalition, Umno is the big brother who decides everything.
This is the reason why when former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad declared on September 29, 2001 that Malaysia is an Islamic state, MCA gave its full support.
This also explains why MCA was silent when Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Jamil Khir Baharom had in Parliament on March 27 instigated PAS to implement hudud on Muslims in Kelantan.
Jamil had then said that “the federal government will be ready to work with any state government that is ready to implement hudud including Kelantan, because Umno Kelantan assemblypersons had supported the passing of Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code Enactment II to implement hudud in 1993.”
MCA leadership kept silent again when the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had last month proposed the setting up of a national-level technical committee on hudud.
On April 24, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib announced that the Barisan Nasional-led Putrajaya had never rejected hudud. Such an announcement is a clear betrayal of the Merdeka Constitution of 1957 and the Malaysian Constitution of 1963.
What have MCA leaders said or done?
It is very clear that to MCA, Umno is BN and BN is Umno. To MCA, Umno always means “you must not object!”