Wednesday, July 9, 2008

How can this moroon be allowed in the parliment?

Bung Mokhtar Radin (Kinabatangan-BN) today did a U-turn, admitting that he had made an obscene gesture in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday during a dispute with some Pakatan Rakyat MPs.

Yes, I did it, but it (the gesture) is not what it means. Everybody has their own perception and it is not rude and it is not what people think it is,” he said when met in the Parliament lobby. He seemed unfazed by the prospect of any action against him, saying he had not done anything wrong.

The obscene gesture was aired during the 30-minute daily ‘live’ telecast of the Question session on RTM1, but went unnoticed in the chambers because the in-house cameras were not focused on him.Yesterday, Bung Mokhtar had denied making the gesture. He reiterated today that he was reacting angrily to some Pakatan MPs who had called him bodoh (stupid). When asked who had made the remark, he said he was uncertain but “it was one of the PKR MPs”.

Malaysiakini learnt that Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid (PKR-Kuala Langat) was the MP involved - he confirmed this when contacted by telephone today.“I was very angry with him, so I called him bodoh. I also said some other things after that which I don’t remember. It was very noisy in the House when it happened,” Abdullah said. ‘No point complaining’When met in the Parliament lobby, Kamaruddin Jaafar (PAS-Tumpat) said Bung Mokhtar’s explanation should be accepted.“Just accept his explanation and let him be. Let the rakyat judge. They have seen it (the footage) so let them judge the Kinabatangan MP,” he said.Asked if any opposition MP would submit a motion for action to be taken against Bung Mokhtar, he said previous complaints against those who made rude remarks or gestures had been disregarded. “During the last sitting, we made a complaint but no action was taken. So this time, we are not getting our hopes up,” said Kamaruddin. Minister in Prime Minister’s Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz said MPs can decide if they wanted action to be taken and table a motion.Asked to comment on Bung Mokhtar’s insistence that the gesture was not offensive, Nazri replied: “If he says it is not a rude gesture, does it mean he can do it again?”

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