MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said he will resign from the Cabinet if Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s Shariah Bill is passed. — Picture by Saw Siow Feng

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 23 — MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai reiterated today his stand that he will resign from the Cabinet if PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s Shariah Bill is passed.

The transport minister likened Hadi’s Bill, which proposes amendments to the Shariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (Act 355), as a “blank cheque” which will pave the way for hudud law to be implemented in Malaysia.

“My position is the same and more importantly, I still insist that the Bill should not be presented by Hadi,” Liow told reporters when met outside Parliament.

“The Hadi private member’s Bill should not be supported because if any Bill wants to be passed in Parliament, it should be the government Bill. More importantly, I also said before that Hadi’s bill as of now is an open-ended bill, it gives a blank cheque for the Shariah court to implement Hudud punishment throughout the country,” he added.

Liow also said that Hadi’s Bill was against the Federal Constitution and should not be given higher priority compared to a government Bill.

“We look at it — it is a serious situation. It is against the Federal Constitution, it is against the spirit of Federal Constitution, and that is why we say it should not be debated and passed in Parliament,” he added.

The Bentong MP explained that a government Bill should always be given priority over any private member’s Bill and any steps to improve the Shariah courts should be done through Putrajaya.

“If there is anything to enhance the Shariah law, we support because the Shariah laws can be enhanced through the government’s Bill. But it should not be through a private member’s Bill and also we have to look at the proposal, how we are going to enhance it.

“If enhancement to allow hudud laws to be implemented in the country, we also will not support it,” Liow stressed.

Adding that any Bill passed should not encroach on the powers of the civil courts, Liow also said a government Bill should be tabled to avoid conflict with the Shariah courts.

“Now you want to enhance it, you have to do it accordingly and should not supersede the civil law, the civil court.

“In this country, we know there is only one court system. There should not be a duplication, or overlap of powers between two courts,” he added.

When asked if MCA would support a government Bill to improve the Shariah courts, Liow said that the party would if it is according to the constitution.

However, he added the party currently was not involved in any discussion on the matter, including the formation of a Parliamentary Select Committee to dissect the matter.

“I won’t know because I wasn’t consulted but I want to see what is to be discussed first.

“I will say that it is good that a select committee [is] to discuss any issue, but it has to depend on what are the issues we need to discuss. We don’t even know what issue we are going to discuss. We were not consulted and not given the idea,” Liow said.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi yesterday said that Hadi will table for a second time a tweaked version of his initial proposed amendments to the Shariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act this week in Parliament.

Hadi tabled his private member’s Bill for the first time in the last Parliament sitting, seeking to improve the Shariah courts. Critics have pointed out is to pave way for hudud implementation in Kelantan.

The current limit for Shariah punishments are a fine of RM5,000, a jail term of three years and six strokes of rotan