By Tony Pua, MP for Petaling Jaya Utara

It is almost comical how MCA and Gerakan leaders are falling over one another to blame Pakatan Rakyat and the Selangor State Assembly Speaker, Hannah Yeoh for allowing Barisan Nasional’s motion to consider the implementation of Hudud in the state to be debated. How do you even make sense of Barisan Nasional blaming Hannah for allowing a motion by Barisan Nasional themselves to be debated?

MCA Selangor Deputy Chief, Donald Lim argued that “there is no way that such a motion can be passed in Selangor as BN is the minority in the state assembly… Therefore, I see no need for such a motion to be tabled.”

He further argued that a debate on this “was nothing more than a waste of the public’s time and money”.

Inextricably but predictably, Lim blamed the DAP, “DAP especially, should be responsible over this issue as the people are looking to them to resolve this.”

The above are birdbrained arguments at so many different levels.

Firstly, is Donald Lim arguing that since BN is the minority, all motions tabled by BN in Selangor should just be rejected outright and arbitrarily by the Selangor Speaker without a chance for the issues raised to be debated on the floor of the state assembly? Lim should not forget that in any proper democracy, every elected representative have the right to be heard on the floor regardless of how incredulous their proposals may be.

It is after hearing the views presented by the elected representative, in this case by Barisan Nasional – even if they are in the opposition, that the state assembly as a whole can decide whether to approve or reject the motion. It is not the Speaker’s role to decide if a motion is worthy of debate, unless of course it is frivolous.

Secondly, if Donald Lim thinks that the motion from BN is “nothing more than a waste of the public’s time and money”, he should tell that to his coalition partner and not the Selangor Speaker. The Speaker did not submit the motion. A BN elected representative did. Hence if anyone is allegedly wasting “the public’s time and money”, it is BN; so don’t shoot the messenger.

Finally, I don’t know whether to be shocked or flattered that Lim admitted “the people are looking to them [DAP] to resolve this.”

Is Donald Lim finally admitting that MCA is nothing but a flower vase in BN, who has no voice and no influence over BN policies and principles? Is Lim conceding that they have failed to ensure that their coalition partner, UMNO will withdraw the motion for debate in the state assembly?

Therefore, MCA appears to have finally accepted that it is only the DAP and Pakatan Rakyat which can stop the UMNO-BN agenda to introduce the implementation of any religious penal code in Selangor.

The MCA should rest easy because even if they fail to ensure the withdrawal of the BN motion, the DAP elected representatives will defend our Malaysian constitution and reject the motion in the state assembly.

While MCA and Gerakan are subservient to UMNO, Pakatan Rakyat is a coalition of equal partners who believe in consensus and mutual respect. Unlike BN, we will uphold our Common Policy Framework and our manifesto to ensure that we deliver promises to the rakyat.