KUALA LUMPUR, March 26 — Barisan Nasional (BN) may see its federal lawmakers from Sabah and Sarawak openly revolting if it declares support for a parliamentary bill that will allow hudud to be enforced in Malaysia, DAP’s Lim Kit Siang warned today.

The DAP parliamentary leader noted that Tan Sri James Masing had already said that all six MPs from the Parti Rakyat Sarawak he leads will not vote in favour of the bill.

“I believe that overwhelming majority of Sarawak and Sabah MPs from Barisan Nasional would break ranks with Umno/BN if Najib announces Umno/BN support for Hadi’s private member’s bill,” Lim said in a statement today, referring to the bill that PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang submitted to Parliament.

Lim highlighted the importance of BN’s East Malaysian component parties to the ruling coalition, saying BN would not have won the 13th general election without its 49 seats from East Malaysia, 27 from Sarawak and 22 from Sabah. 

Election 2013 saw BN’s worst ever electoral performance with its win of 133 federal seats in the 222-seat Parliament, 21 seats more than the 112 seats needed to control majority. 

Lim said that BN parties MCA and Gerakan, however, lack the “conviction or courage” shown by Masing in declaring in advance that the PRS would break ranks with BN if the coalition supports the parliamentary bill on the strict Islamic penal code.

He cited the alleged failure of MCA and Gerakan to raise objections to Kelantan Umno state assemblymen last week who voted in favour of amendments to Kelantan’s hudud enactment. 

The Kelantan state assembly is dominated by both PAS and Umno lawmakers, with only one PKR assemblyman in the lawmaking body.

“Although Najib can depend on acquiescence and obedience from MCA and Gerakan on whatever stand he takes on Hadi’s private member’s bill, he must be prepared for an open revolt from the BN MPs in Sarawak and Sabah if he supports Hadi’s private member’s bill.

“After the 2013 general elections, MCA which had been reduced to 7/11 representation, and Gerakan are completely dispensable in BN coalition, but this is not the case with Sarawak and Sabah MPs,” the Gelang Patah MP said.

On March 19, PAS-ruled Kelantan passed key amendments to its Shariah Criminal Code II 1993 in a move to enable the eventual implementation of hudud in the Malay-majority east coast state.

Hadi last week served notice to Parliament on the proposed bill, but de facto law minister Datuk Nancy Shukri said it may not make it into the order paper for the current session as there are many others on the schedule.

With DAP and PKR’s rejection, PAS and its 21 MPs in the lower House must rely on all of Umno’s MPs plus more from other non-Muslim parties in order to get a simple majority of 112 votes to get the bill passed.

If passed, the bill is expected to remove legal roadblocks to the enforcement of hudud in Kelantan.