FINALLY, it came down to this choice for Prime Minister Najib Razak and Umno. Drop the controversial Shariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (Act 355) Bill or lose the fixed-deposit states of Sabah and Sarawak.

Even the possibility of excluding the two Borneo states from enhanced shariah punishments could not sway Barisan Nasional politicians from both states at the coalition’s supreme council meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.

They also received strong backing from MIC, MCA and Gerakan politicians, with leaders from the latter two saying publicly last year they would resign if the amendments became law.

BN’s move to take over the Islamic law amendments first mooted by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang was announced several weeks ago by Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Zahid Hamidi despite disquiet within the ruling coalition.

Sarawak Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg had insisted the bill should not be tabled, while Sabah BN privately expressed reservations about the proposed amendments.

Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) acting president Maximus Ongkili had warned the party would quit the BN coalition over the amendments.

Sarawak BN holds 25 parliamentary seats while Sabah has 21. Non-Muslim MPs in the peninsula number 13.

The Malaysian Insight learnt the prime minister had told the BN pre-council meeting before the current parliament session that they will push the amendments because it would help the coalition, but some had reservations and had asked to see the draft law.

On Wednesday night, Najib announced that the government had decided not to table Hadi’s private member’s bill in line with the principle of consensus.

“Therefore, it will remain a private member’s bill and if it is presented, it will depend on the speaker’s instructions,” Najib had said.

A Sarawak-based political analyst said the events leading to the Act 355 U-turn had sent a strong message to Najib.

“Don’t shove Umno-centric, peninsula-centric, Malay-centric or Muslim-centric issues down the throat of the people in Sabah and Sarawak,” Universiti Malaysia Sarawak lecturer Jeniri Amir told The Malaysian Insight.

“They have just put their foot down. They are not going to take such roughshod treatment any longer and that’s a lesson Najib must have painfully learnt.

“The people are now telling Najib: ‘Why can’t you be Malaysia-centric, Malaysia-centric like that envisioned by the framers of the Malaysia Agreement?’.

“That’s the best way forward for Malaysia and it was how the forefathers of this federation saw it.

“It is not for Umno alone to decide the future of Malaysia.”

Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) president Jeffrey Kitingan viewed the Act 355 U-turn as Umno no longer being a hegemonic power, and the federal government now a shared government with Sabah and Sarawak.

“I wasn’t sure if the Borneo states were able to work together, given Umno’s control of Sabah but they did… maybe because of pressures all around due to the elections.”

Political analyst Dr Wong Chin Huat said Umno’s earlier bid to adopt Hadi’s bill as the government’s own was nothing more than an attempt to curry favour with Muslims.

Hadi’s bill would have been watered down and tabled as a government bill, said Wong of the Penang Institute think-tank.

“But they are not willing to risk an open division in BN,” Wong said, referring to the storm of protest among non-Malay BN parties.

Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister James Masing also said the lesson learnt from this episode is that Sarawakians “must stand united on issue affecting us and Sarawak”.

“My stand on RUU 355 didn’t waver from day one. My stance was further reinforced when the PRS (his Parti Rakyat Sarawak) supreme council unanimously opposed it,” he said. – March 31, 2017.