KUALA LUMPUR, May 11 — MCA’s claim that it must forfeit the Bukit Gelugor by-election to focus on campaigning against hudud is an excuse to evade a trouncing in the May 25 poll, DAP’s Teresa Kok said today.

The Seputeh MP said the Barisan Nasional could have used the by-election as a measure of the people’s rejection of the DAP over MCA’s attacks that the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) party was in cahoots with PAS to roll out the Islamic penal law in Kelantan.

“If MCA truly believes in its own propaganda waged against the DAP, MCA should be confident of an upset victory against the DAP in Bukit Gelugor, perhaps even causing DAP candidate to lose his deposit,” Kok said in a statement today.

She added that MCA’s refusal to contest the by-election demonstrated its own lack of confidence in its attacks against DAP over the hudud issue as well as the lack of traction among the public.

“MCA can offer whatever reason but not many will think that it has given the true reason — that it is afraid of a disastrous defeat which will make it hard to justify its rejoining the Cabinet,” Kok 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.

“We have decided not to contest in the by-election as we believe we need to fully concentrate on the constitutional crisis triggered by PAS over hudud,” MCA secretary-general Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan said in a press conference at the Penang MCA headquarters yesterday.

MCA’s decision today 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.

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.