KUALA LUMPUR, April 6 — DAP lawmakers have called for Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai to resign after two federal ministers contradicted his claims that the Cabinet had discussed hudud.
In a tit for tat, Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng and Ipoh Timur MP Thomas Soo said they had used the same letter, which the MCA had submitted to the DAP demanding for them to quit as lawmakers for failing to speak up against PAS, in telling MCA president Liow to resign.
“He said the Cabinet had discussed hudud, but the youth and sports minister and tourism minister said it was never discussed. We have two ministers against one so the benefit of the doubt should be given to the two ministers,” Lim told reporters at Parliament lobby here.
“So I used back the same letter by the MCA to ask him to resign,” he added.
Soo then said it was “natural” for Liow to quit since he purportedly lied to the public, noting that the transport minister’s claim that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was going to issue a statement about the Islamic penal code did not materialise.
“Only natural that was given to us should be given back,” he said.
News portal Malaysiakini reported Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin as saying yesterday that the Cabinet did not discuss hudud and that the Islamic criminal law was merely “presented”, with neither MCA nor other Barisan Nasional (BN) parties opposing it.
Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said last Tuesday that Kelantan’s hudud plans were not raised in the Cabinet meeting the week before.
The Kelantan state assembly approved the Shariah Criminal Code (II) (1993) 2015 Enactment last month with 31 votes from PAS lawmakers supported by 12 from Umno.
PAS also submitted two private member’s Bills to Parliament to remove the legal obstacles that prevent the enforcement of hudud in Kelantan, which requires bipartisan support from Umno and others to pass.
