The repeal of the Kuala Selangor District Council (MDKS) order that unmarried Muslim couples cannot sit together in the cinema theatre has taken too long to resolve, MCA Selangor secretary Wong Koon Mun said.

NONE "The controversial cinema notice caused a public outcry in early July. Many pleas calling for its repeal were made but it took the government until mid-August to act.

"How can the rakyat trust Pakatan to lead if it cannot handle its own self-made problems?" Wong ( left ) said in a statement yesterday.

Wong cited a report in The Star yesterday that said the Selangor government had revoked the local council's order requiring unmarried Muslim couples to sit separately when watching movies at the Lotus Five Star theatre in Kuala Selangor.

The daily reported that state executive councillor Ronnie Liu had visited the cinema. Liu told the operators to take down the notice and that MDKS and the state government would discuss the issue.

However, Wong said this was "too little, too late", as it had been an "unnecessarily long time" until the final resolution of the issue, despite there being a public outcry since July 10.

"...The exco could have easily ordered the repeal of the directive, rather than merely suspending it after the public uproar, which paved the possibility for the district council sit-apart order to continue to be enforced," he said.

Wong questioned whether the rakyat could trust Pakatan to lead if it could not "handle its own self-made problems", in reference to the alleged internal dispute among PAS, DAP and PKR on implementation of hudud in the country.