MCA president Liow Tiong Lai has distanced his party and the BN administration from the Private Member’s Bill from PAS to pave way for hudud to be implemented in Kelantan.

“The bill proposed by (PAS president) Abdul Hadi Awang is a Private Member's Bill, motivated by PAS’ fixation with implementing the syariah criminal code in Kelantan.

“It is not a government bill, neither it is in line with BN’s principles and position,” Liow said in a statement today.

The bill, which had waited three parliamentary sittings on the order paper to be tabled, was finally introduced to the House yesterday.

Ironically, Hadi was the one who then asked for the debate on the bill to be postponed to the next sitting.

Yesterday PAS Youth chief Nik Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz admitted his party had received cooperation from Umno, without which the bill would not have been slated for debate since it was listed as the last item on the Parliament's order paper.

The Islamist party’s aspirations to implement the Islamic penal code received a renewed boost when the ruling government agreed to form a joint technical committee with PAS to study its implementation, as announced by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Jamil Khir Baharom in May 2014.

Following this, the Kelantan state assembly, comprising 44 PAS and Umno assemblypersons and one from PKR, unanimously passed the Syariah Criminal Code (II) 1993 (Amendment 2015) Bill last March.

Liow said the MCA’s steadfast position was “to object any bill that will enable the implementation of hudud in Malaysia”.

“As we repeatedly pointed out, the implementation of hudud is against the spirit of the Federal Constitution, and would ruin the inter-ethnic relationship in the country,” he said, adding that MCA would not support the bill.

“We want the government to maintain the existing structure of our legal system, which was designed based on the spirit and intention of the constitution - justice for all regardless of race, religion or background in a secular society,” he said.

MCA boss opens fire on Umno in Chinese newspapers

Don’t fall into hudud trap, focus on 1MDB, urges DAP’s Sheikh Omar

Hudud surprise in Parliament, 1MDB case 'closed', controversy roils Declaration