KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 17 — Barisan Nasional (BN) has agreed that Putrajaya’s matters must come before PAS’s private Bill to upgrade the Shariah courts, MCA said when revealing the plan to block the latter from being debated in Parliament.

The Chinese-based BN component said its lawmakers will use this principle to ensure that PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s motion does not make it beyond the Order Paper, said MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.

“I raised this issue and it was very clear that Barisan has a consensus that Government Bills supersede Private Member’s Bills.

“We will make sure this Bill is not debated,” Liow was quoted by English daily The Star after witnessing the signing of a memorandum of understanding yesterday.

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Hadi’s motion for this private member’s Bill is fourth in today’s Order Paper.

On October 1, BN secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor said that all 13 members of the coalition have made up their mind on Hadi’s Bill, but refused to divulge the details.

Several leaders of BN component parties admitted, however, to being in the dark when asked about the ruling coalition’s purported consensus.

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Yesterday, MIC president Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said BN parties have agreed on how to handle Hadi’s Bill, and he hoped that the agreement would be honoured.

The Bill caused friction among BN parties after an Umno minister’s intervention allowed Hadi to table his motion for the Bill in the previous meeting of Parliament, but which he later opted to defer to the meeting starting today.

BN components other than Umno have openly opposed Hadi’s Bill.

It seeks to amend the Shariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965, also known as Act 355, to empower Islamic courts to enforce punishments ― except for the death penalty ― provided in Shariah laws for Islamic offences listed under state jurisdiction in the Federal Constitution.