KUALA LUMPUR, May 11 — MCA’s decision not to contest the Bukit Gelugor by-election despite the political ammunition provided by the hudud controversy depicts the party as bereft of talent, said former president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat.

Criticising the party’s assertion that it must give up contesting the May 25 poll to concentrate on PAS’s now-postponed bid to introduce federal laws that could allow the enforcement of the Islamic penal code in Kelantan, Ong reminded MCA of its previous success in exploiting the controversy.

Recounting how the party had hacked away support from DAP in the previous times the debate over the Islamic penal code reared its head, Ong said MCA should have leveraged its recent “posturing of opposing the hudud implementation.”

“It’s ‘no-contest’ decision would only leave room for scepticism that the party is now exhausted of winnable candidates,” Ong said in a statement today.

He also told the party that its claim that it needed to focus on a so-called “constitutional crisis” stemming from the PAS effort was not credible, saying that such efforts were not ad-hoc undertakings.

“Fighting for the Federal Constitution against PAS’s move to implement hudud, to my understanding of the MCA politics, has never been a seasonal initiative. It is a continuous party commitment irrespective of general election or by-election,” he added.

Yesterday, MCA announced a surprise decision to sit out the Bukit Gelugor poll ostensibly to concentrate its resources on preventing PAS from trying to introduce two private members’ bills in Parliament to pave way for the enforcement of hudud in Kelantan.

MCA’s decision means no BN party will contest the poll. The coalition is also not officially endorsing any of the independents that will be in the running.

DAP yesterday announced Ramkarpal Singh Deo, the late Karpal Singh’s third son, as its choice to contest the by-election.

In 1993, the PAS state government passed the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code Enactment II, allowing it to impose the strict Islamic penal code in the state. But the laws have not been implemented.

PAS is now looking for parliamentary approval to implement hudud, but today announced that it is postponing this to allow a bi-partisan technical committee to study the issue.

This has resurrected the on-and-off conflict between DAP and PAS that dates back to the 1990s and which had kept the two from co-operating for decades.

Rivals in have since seized on the issue, with Umno tempting PAS with promises of support to realise its goals even as the Chinese-based MCA and Gerakan campaign targets DAP and Islamist party over the bid.

The Bukit Gelugor seat fell vacant after Karpal was killed in a car crash last month.

Karpal first won the seat traditionally held by MCA in Election 2004, before going on to win by 21,015 votes in 2008 and 42,706 votes in 2013 against MCA.