KUALA LUMPUR: MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai has issued a warning that Umno could be kicked out of Barisan Nasional if the party moves towards theocratic politics.<\/p>\n
Addressing the MCA Selangor 2018 convention on Sunday, Liow said BN must continue to uphold principles of cultural unity and defend racial harmony in the country.<\/p>\n
He said if Umno adopts an approach which is racial and religious in nature, BN will either be dissolved or MCA will eject Umno from the coalition.<\/p>\n
\u201cBN will hold on to principles of moderation. If any component party, including Umno, moves towards racialism, religion, theocracy or extremism, then they will be left with only two choices.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first option is to dissolve Barisan Nasional as it will no longer be a harmonious gathering of races. The second option is to kick out Umno.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe (MCA) are a party which practices moderation. So why should we leave BN? Why can\u2019t we kick out Umno?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Liow, when asked for his views on Umno\u2019s new cooperation with Pas, said MCA does not agree with the new direction.<\/p>\n
\u201cUmno gave their assurance that they (Umno and Pas) would only work together on certain issues, and would not form a merger.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have actually stated this stand to Umno, that we disagree with any alliance or efforts to steer the party (Umno), specifically as a BN component party, towards race and religion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Liow said that while cooperation between opposition parties on specific issues are acceptable, it should not lead to any formal merger.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are a moderate party. As I\u2019ve said, BN is moderate. If there is cooperation on some issues, then let it be. After all, we are all part of the opposition,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
BN saw Gerakan as well as eight other component parties from Sabah and Sarawak exit the coalition following its thumping defeat in the 14th general election.<\/p>\n
BN is now comprised of Umno, MIC and MCA, with MyPPP\u2019s status still up in the air following the latter\u2019s internal leadership crisis.<\/p>\n
After GE14, Umno and Pas first embarked on a cooperation in the Sungai Kandis and Seri Setia by-elections, where both parties had loosely campaigned for each other\u2019s candidates against their Pakatan Harapan opponents.<\/p>\n
Umno president, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi brought the two parties even closer by formally attending Pas\u2019 muktamar in Kuala Terengganu earlier this month. The move is set to be reciprocated by Pas president, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, who has indicated that he would likely attend Umno\u2019s upcoming general assembly. – NST<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KUALA LUMPUR: MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai has issued a warning that Umno could be kicked out of Barisan Nasional\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":71748,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"bo_wartawan":[],"bo_jenis":[],"class_list":["post-71747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c48-news"],"better_featured_image":{"id":71748,"alt_text":"","caption":"","description":"","media_type":"image","media_details":{"width":1024,"height":732,"file":"2018\/09\/IMG_20180924_121845.jpg","filesize":132054,"sizes":{},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","keywords":[]}},"post":71747,"source_url":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/IMG_20180924_121845.jpg"},"yoast_head":"\n