Four days ago, Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) Honorary Secretary Prematilaka Serisena said that it has not seen nor agreed to the government’s proposed Law Reform (Marrigae and Divorce) Act 1976 (LRA).
Yesterday, Gerakan Youth deputy chief Andy Yong said that amendments to the Act meant to resolve issues of unilateral conversion of minors will not meet its objective.
“After a careful study of the bill, we conclude that it needs to be fine-tuned, not to mention there are some technical errors,” he said.
There is no doubt that the lack of political on the part of the government has caused the long delay in coming out with the necessary proposed law changes.
Hence, when a decision has finally been made to table the necessary amendments in Parliament, there is a need to ensure that all the long standing issues must be satisfactorily and permanently resolved.
To achieve the objective, the first thing that has to be done is to seek consultation and feedback from all stakeholders.
It is therefore baffling and unacceptable that till today even MCCBCHST has not been consulted.
Why has this happened? What is holding the government back from seeking prior consultation from MCCBCHST?
Has the government forgotten that the Prime Minister Najib has once said that the era where the government knows best is over?
From the statement issued by Gerakan’s Andy Yong, it is obvious that he has read the proposed amendments. So how did he obtain the amendments?
Was he given the proposed amendments by Gerakan Cabinet Minister Datuk Ma Siew Keong or is it because the government is only seeking prior consultation from BN component parties only?
In any case the proposed amendments have wide reaching consequences on the Malaysian populace. Why the consultations if any is kept in the domain of a few? Why are they secretive.
It is wrong and inadequate if the consultation process is only confined to BN component parties.
The government must seek consultation from all stakeholders to ensure the law changes will provide a satisfactory and permanent solution.