A week ago, I had asked a question – was there a BN consensus principle to defer amendments to the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act (LRA) 1976?

MIC president S. Subramanim and MCA President  Liow Tiong Lai who were also involved in the efforts of getting the issue resolved via law amendments in the Parliament have remained silent.

There was also no protest from them when the deferment was announced recently. Their total silence is rather baffling.

In my statement dated 10 April 2017, I had described the government’s move to defer the amendments Bill which was tabled in November last year and meant for debate in the just concluded parliament  sitting as most sad, unfair and irresponsible.

Many like M Indira Gandhi have suffered for years due to the practice of unilateral conversion of minors. The Cabinet realized the problem and had decided in 2009 to put a ban to such practice. But its decision was not effective unless the necessary legislative amendment is made.

The government took 7 long years to finally table the necessary amendments in the Parliament last year and they were to be debated in the just concluded Parliament sitting.

Yet the government that has dragged its feet for so long decided to make the heartless decision of deferring the Bill.

Worse, there was no firm commitment that the Bill would be tabled at the next parliament sitting.

The government’s decision to defer the amendments ought to have been met with protests from MIC and MCA, yet they had remained silent, why?

Last year, PAS secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan said Muslims would oppose amendments to the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act if non-Muslims continued to interfere with the proposed amendments to Syariah law. ( He was referring to Hadi Awang’ Private Member’s Bill that seek to give Syariah Courts more power to mete out heavier punishments, short of the death sentence.)

“We must play fair. Don’t interfere with the rights of Muslims and make it difficult for us.

“If you want to play this way, then we too can work against the proposed law reform,” he told a press conference at the party headquarters on November 29 last year.

S. Subramaniam and Liow Tiong Lai have to explain their silence on the LRA amendments deferments. Silence is not golden on this issue. They will also have to answer an important question that the public wish to know—when the BN supreme council agreed that the government should not take over the tabling of Hadi Awangs’s private member’s Bill, was there an agreement and a compromise that the LRA amendment Bill would be deferred.