KUALA LUMPUR, May 5 - Umno’s support for PAS’s bid to enforce hudud in Kelantan would turn it into a “government” effort, DAP reminded MCA today just as the Barisan Nasional (BN) party prepares to rejoin the Cabinet.

In a tirade against MCA, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng reminded the Chinese-based BN component that it was its own ally Umno that had instigated PAS’s renewed push for hudud.

Lim said Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai’s blaming of DAP for PAS’s bid was merely the MCA president’s attempt to mask the latter’s failure to criticise Umno for supporting hudud.

“Clearly Liow has failed in his first step to transform MCA by not daring to openly oppose and criticise Umno.

“Why does Liow not dare to ask Umno to leave BN if Umno is intent on implementing hudud laws in Kelantan?” the Bagan MP said in a statement here.

At a press  conference yesterday, Liow blamed PAS for the on-going debate on hudud, accusing the Islamist party of trying to “trap” Umno into supporting its bid to implement the controversial penal code in Kelantan.

The MCA president said it was an “unfair situation” for Umno, as the Malay party cannot openly voice its reservations against implementing the orthodox religious law.

“The root of the problem is PAS, because this is not a government bill,” said Liow, adding that MCA would put its foot down if it were the BN government that was pushing to implement hudud.

But Lim disagreed.

“Liow is contradicting himself,” the DAP leader said. “(With) the support of Umno, which is the government, effectively makes it a government bill.”

Lim also disagreed with Liow’s assertion that Umno cannot object to the hudud bills out of religious obligation.

He pointed out that Umo president and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had openly declared in Kampar, Perak, on September 25, 2011, that the government would not enforce hudud in Malaysia.

Lim also reminded that former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has also voiced similar rejection to the proposal to implement hudud, saying Malaysians are not ready for such a law and that it would be unfair to prescribe different penalties between the Muslims and non-Muslims.

“For this reason, Liow has no right to call for DAP to publicly apologise for PAS wanting to implement Hudud in Kelantan when DAP has consistently and publicly objected and criticized PAS and Umno for doing so,” Lim said.

“MCA should be the one to publicly apologise for refusing to criticize Umno for instigating PAS to implement hudud in Kelantan.”

PAS has voiced its intention to seek parliamentary approval to implement hudud in Kelantan. It plans to put forward two private members’ bills in parliament.

One seeks approval for unconventional punishments, some of which are for offences already covered in the Penal code. The the other seeks to empower Shariah courts to mete out the unconventional punishments.

In Islamic jurisprudence, hudud covers crimes such as theft, robbery, adultery, rape and sodomy.

Punishments for the crimes are severe, including amputation, flogging and death by stoning.