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MADD at Ibrahim's remarks

NST (9/5/08): The fiery Ibrahim Ali met his match at Parliament lobby yesterday when a group of disabled confronted him over an "insensitive" statement about DAP chairman Karpal Singh.

Members of Malaysians Against the Discrimination of the Disabled confronting MP Ibrahim Ali at the lobby of Parliament yesterday over his remarks about DAP MP Karpal Singh. Ibrahim says he will never apologise to Karpal.

The independent member of parliament for Pasir Mas was jeered by the 30-strong group for asking the speaker on April 30 why the wheel-chair-bound Karpal, the MP for Bukit Gelugor, had not stood to ask questions.

House rules require members to stand while asking questions.

The group, representing Malaysians Against the Discrimination of the Disabled (MADD), had showed up at the lobby to present a memorandum of protest to MPs.

Led by Anthony Thana-yasan, the group had also wanted an apology from Ibra-him and Datuk Bung Mokhtar, the Barisan Nasional MP for Kinabatangan, for their comments about the disabled.

The effort, however, failed when Ibrahim walked off after heatedly engaging the group for five minutes.

Bung Mokhtar, however, said he was sorry if his comment had hurt the disabled.

"I have disabled in my family and constituency. How can I think of hurting any of you?" he said to cheers.

The drama began about 11.45am when Kelana Jaya DAP MP Loh Gwo Burne told Ibrahim that a group of disabled wanted to meet him.

As Ibrahim approached them, the group asked him to offer the disabled and Karpal an unconditional apology for his "insensitive" statement.

Ibrahim, in an equally angry tone, said: "I will not apologise to Karpal.

"I never meant to offend any of you (looking at disabled). What happened between him and me was something personal."

The atmosphere became more tense when Ibrahim suggested that they were being used.

"I have been fighting for a RM500 monthly allowance for the disabled for a long time."

As they pressed Ibrahim to apologise to Karpal, a flustered Ibrahim walked off without a word.

Ibrahim, met by the New Straits Times, said he would not retract his remarks about Karpal until the latter apologised for calling him a katak (frog).

"I was being patient but he called me a 'katak'. I waited for him to retract his statements but he did not do so."

He said MADD may have been made use of by Pakatan Rakyat MPs who wanted to politicise the matter.

Anthony said the disabled had dignity and could not be bought.

"Any one of the MPs can become disabled one day. So, be sensitive to our condition and please show us some respect."

OKU Bersemuka Dengan Ibrahim Berhubung Kenyataannya Mengenai Karpal Singh (Bernama 8/5/08)

Parlimen kecoh OKU desak YB mohon maaf (Utusan Malaysia)

OKU desak dua Ahli Parlimen mohon maaf

Berita Harian (8/5/08): Drama meletus di lobi Parlimen semalam apabila sekumpulan Orang Kurang Upaya (OKU) berkumpul meminta dua Ahli Parlimen, Datuk Ibrahim Ali (Bebas-Pasir Mas) dan Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan), memohon maaf kerana menganggap kata-kata mereka dalam Dewan Rakyat sebagai menghina dan memperkecilkan golongan itu.

Suasana lobi Parlimen yang sememangnya agak sibuk sejak sesi Dewan Rakyat mula bersidang minggu lalu, menjadi bertambah kecoh tengah hari semalam apabila lebih 50 wakil golongan itu yang menamakan kumpulan mereka, Pertubuhan Rakyat Malaysia Menentang Diskriminasi OKU (MADD), meninggikan suara meminta Ibrahim dan Bung Mokhtar supaya tampil bersemuka dengan mereka.

Kemarahan kumpulan itu berpunca daripada tindakan Ibrahim pada Selasa minggu lalu yang meminta Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor), yang berkerusi roda kerana lumpuh akibat kemalangan pada 2005, untuk berdiri ketika berucap atau mencelah untuk bercakap di Dewan Rakyat.

Keadaan yang sama juga ditujukan kepada Bung Mokhtar yang dikatakan mengeluarkan perkataan yang agak kesat seperti mengejek dengan mengatakan Karpal sebagai `big monkey' (monyet besar), serta mencabar Karpal dengan berkata, "kalau berani bangunlah".

MADD menerusi jurucakapnya, Anthony Thanasayan, yang mendakwa hadir ke Parlimen atas kemahuan sendiri, terus mendesak Ibrahim dan Bung Mukhtar memohon maaf dan mereka bersedia menerimanya jika ia dilakukan secara ikhlas dan jujur, tanpa sebarang syarat.

Walaupun menafikan kehadiran mereka tidak dikaitkan dengan mana-mana parti politik, kehadiran beberapa Ahli Parlimen daripada Pakatan Rakyat (PR) termasuk Presiden Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Ismail, Loh Gwo Burne (PKR-Kelana Jaya), Lim Lip Eng (DAP-Segambut) dan Gobind Singh Deo (DAP-Puchong) yang berdiri di belakang kumpulan itu, memberi gambaran sebaliknya.

Kekecohan itu menarik perhatian wakil rakyat lain dan ada yang menganggap ia tidak sepatutnya berlaku kerana boleh menimbulkan anggapan tidak manis apabila lobi Parlimen dijadikan gelanggang untuk membawa kumpulan tertentu bagi kepentingan agenda sesetengah pihak.

Kumpulan OKU itu turut membawa sepanduk yang antaranya tertulis ‘Berilah Hormat Kepada OKU’ dan 'What Happen To Disabled Act?’.

M Saravanan (BN-Tapah) berkata, sepatutnya wakil rakyat pembangkang menjelaskan kepada OKU berkenaan bahawa kata-kata Ibrahim bukan bermaksud menghina mereka, tetapi membangkitkan Peraturan Mesyuarat.

Ketegangan memuncak apabila Ibrahim dan Bung Moktar keluar dari Dewan Rakyat yang belum habis waktu bersidang sesi pagi, untuk bertemu Thanasayan dan wakil MADD lain.

Ibrahim yang pada mulanya cuba menjawab secara tenang menjelaskan, kata-kata beliau bukan ditujukan kepada golongan OKU secara amnya, tetapi khusus kepada Karpal dan ia berdasarkan Peraturan Mesyuarat yang memerlukan seseorang Ahli Dewan Rakyat berdiri ketika berucap.

Bagaimanapun, tidak tahan dengan jeritan dan laungan wakil MADD serta beberapa ahli Parlimen pembangkang, Ibrahim mula meninggikan suara dan menjelaskan tidak akan meminta maaf kepada kumpulan itu kerana kata-kata itu tidak ditujukan kepada mereka, malah beliau juga menegaskan tidak akan meminta maaf kepada Karpal berhubung kejadian itu.

"Saya tidak mahu memohon maaf sebab kata-kata yang dilemparkan kepada Ahli Parlimen Bukit Gelugor kelmarin tidak bermaksud menghina OKU. Ini bukan politik.

"Buat apa saya hendak berbuat demikian sedangkan ia tidak ada kena mengena langsung dengan apa yang mereka mahukan,” katanya sambil disahut teriakan beberapa OKU yang mengelilinginya. Sejurus kemudian, Ibrahim meninggalkan perkumpulan itu.

Bung Mokhtar yang tiba kemudian, mengeluarkan kata-kata memujuk dengan menyatakan beliau juga mempunyai ahli keluarga dan ramai pengundi di kawasannya yang dikategorikan OKU.

Justeru katanya, tidak terlintas di fikiran beliau untuk menghina golongan itu malah menyayangi dan menganggap mereka sebagai golongan istimewa.

"Saya mohon maaf jika ada melakukan kesalahan hingga menyinggung perasaan OKU dan saya akan pastikan ada pembelaan sekiranya berlaku penganiayaan terhadap anda,'' katanya.

Beliau bagaimanapun mempertahankan kenyataannya terhadap Karpal dan menganggap ia bukan satu kesalahan apabila Gobind yang berdiri bersama MADD, melemparkan pertanyaan sama ada perbuatannya terhadap bapanya (Karpal) itu adalah salah.

Sesudah Bung Mokhtar memohon maaf itu, keadaan menjadi tenang dan MADD kemudian menyerahkan memorandum bantahan yang mewakili permintaan semua kumpulan dan pertubuhan OKU kepada semua ahli Parlimen. Wan Azizah menerima memorandum itu bagi pihak semua Ahli Parlimen.

Madd storms Parliament for apologies

The Sun (8/5/08): Thirty angry wheelchair-bound citizens "stormed" Parliament today to demand apologies from Datuk Bung Mokhta Radin (BN-Kinabatangan) and Datuk Ibrahim Ali (Independent-Pasir Mas) for uttering discriminatory statements against Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor).

On Monday, both the BN MPs asked wheelchair-bound Karpal Singh to stand up and show respect to the Speaker.

In a joint statement, the Malaysians Against the Discrimination of the Disabled (Madd) coaliton demanded that discriminatory remarks are stopped in the Dewan Rakyat.

The coalition also demanded that:

> disciplinary action be taken against MPs who break the rule;

> the Persons with Disabilities Act 2007 be amended to sanction those who break the rule;

> MPs should attend to issues involving public transportation, healthcare, education, employment and communications of the handicapped; and

> the parliament be made disabled-friendly.

Ibrahim apologised to the handicapped and said: "I never offended the handicapped as I only had problem with Karpal Singh (who is also wheel chair bound).

"I hope you (all) do not misunderstand. There are groups that politicised the issue and took advantage of you all. Honestly, from the bottom of my heart, I love very much all the disabled people."

Ibrahim said he had also proposed that all the handicapped received a RM500 monthly allowance.

However, when Lim Lip Eng (DAP-Segambut) asked whether he will apologise to Karpal Singh, Ibrahim said he will not and the handicapped booed him.

The coalition representatives then decided not to accept his earlier apology.

Bung Mokhtar who came after Ibrahim refused to answer the same question that Lim posed to Ibrahim. "What wrong did I do?"

"It was never in my mind and heart to discredit or look down on the disabled. In my constituency, I take care of them and build houses for them, but I did not see Bukit Gelugor (Karpal Singh) representing the disabled. As a disabled, he should act like one but his mouth is not like a disabled.

"I did not mean to hurt the disabled, if I am wrong, I apologise," he added.

The memorandum was also handed over to Opposition Leader Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

Loathsome, likeable, flexible, mobile…but straight-up political survivor

NST (8/5/08): Disputably, Datuk Paduka Ibrahim Ali is Malaysia’s greatest, if not the most famous, political survivor: a political punching bag of enormous buffer and a battering ram of raw intensity who berates opponents in his colorfully glottal Kelantanese-speak and outsized personality, not conforming to his medium-sized but bull-like build.

By his own admission, the 57-year-old endured four decades of political battering and volatile political fortunes – forcibly exiled, twice, in his dark years of ISA detention, then loathed by former comrades for his proclivity to jump party but grudgingly admired for his impeccable timing to defect, distrusted by current party colleagues for the same reason, but well liked by friends and devoted supporters though thought to be “flexible” by fellow Dewan Rakyat MPs.

With little or no pause in that four decades, the Independent MP for Pasir Mas has the reputation of a tough street brawler, a pugilist with the ability to absorb bloody political jabs and punches from all sides before counter punching a few lethal blows himself against his aggressors: just ask Kelantan Pas, Berjasa (now defunct) and Umno leaders. Tenacious, with the subtlety of a pit bull, Ibrahim had outlived political expediency while carrying out his mentor’s bidding. That’s the thing with Ibrahim: if he believes in a leader and that leader barks an order, there’s no obstacle that can stop the man from Pasir Mas. Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, one former mentor, can testify to that rock-solid loyalty.

But today, outside the Dewan Rakyat and at the Parliament lobby, Ibrahim’s reputation of fearlessness count for nothing. For all his tough guy, Rambo-style reprisals against political leaders who may have belittled his nationalistic fervour, Ibrahim was somewhat flabbergasted when he was confronted angrily by a group of 30 handicapped people, many of them on wheelchairs. Mutually-minded MPs on the warpath like Lim Kit Siang and like Karpal Singh he can handle but these people?

It all stemmed from the Dewan Rakyat’s first day: Ibrahim, who has this long-standing target practice routine against Karpal Singh inside the august hall, triggered this altercation: in the most dead-panned of tone, he questioned why the wheelchair-bound Karpal did not seek the House’s permission to speak without having to stand up. Admittedly, it was tasteless, politically incorrect and obnoxious, but then, this was a snipe at the bullet-and-insult-proof Karpal we are talking about.

No matter. Ibrahim aggravated matters by refusing to apologise to Karpal despite the barrage of scorn from DAP MPs. But that was that. However, at the Parliament lobby, Ibrahim faced a different proposition. Word was that Karpal’s son, Gobind Singh Deo, was approached by a group calling themselves the Malaysian Against the Discrimination of the Disabled, that carried the wonderfully apt acronym of MADD, at least for today, to get Ibrahim and Bung Mukhtar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan) to meet them. Gobind managed to persuade Ibrahim to meet the MADD people but as he barely spoke, the wheel-chaired people jettisoned protocol by shouting this demand to Ibrahim: apologise to Karpal. The MADD people also pushed a two-page memorandum to that effect to Ibrahim.

Courteously, Ibrahim explained that his poser to Karpal was never meant to hurt disabled people where in fact, he actually loved the handicapped. But that didn’t appease the mob: three or four members of the group shouted back, insisting that Ibrahim apologise to Karpal. That was enough to superheat Ibrahim as he retorted: “Why should I apologise to Karpal? I was only raising a point of order in the Dewan Rakyat!” But shouts demanding that he apologise to Karpal rained on him like rotten eggs and this time, Ibrahim maintained his non-apology stance but at a few octaves higher before deciding that the verbal wrestling wasn’t worth his time. So he walked away, shutting out the drone of jeers, heckles and shouts: “Apologise to Karpal! Apologise to Karpal!”

Then there’s that ungainly appellation of being dubbed the “frog”. Ibrahim isn’t shy of admitting this, acknowledging the fact inside the House while interjecting Datuk Anifah Aman (BN-Kimanis) yesterday when the Sabahan was envisioning, and denying, Sabah BN MPs’ mass defection to Pakatan Rakyat. While Anifah made no honorable or direct mention of Ibrahim in his arguments, the Pasir Mas MP somehow felt a slight and stood up to outline this: why must talk of defections be focused on him!

Amused, Anifah was perplexed at Ibrahim’s ability to defect that he could not decide whether to regard it as a “curse” or a “matter of respect” but he did regard Ibrahim’s serial defections over the years as “flexible” – from Pas to Berjasa to Umno to Semangat 46, back to Umno, sacked from Umno for ignoring orders not to contest as an Independent in 2004, and now an Independent MP who won on a Pas ticket. Go figure.

Ibrahim had a plausible explanation for all the hopping: political struggle, even to the extent of being detained under the Internal Security Act. Twice at that, once in the 1970s and the second in the 1980s. “If you fear the ISA, then forget about any political struggle,” he philosophised.

Now here’s the amazing rub: Ibrahim, in his debate to on the royal address, declared that he was supportive of the ISA although he had been twice a victim. The ISA – the part where police can detain you without trial – should stay but with some major modifications: discretionary powers in the hands of the Home Minister must be transferred to a security committee whose members must also include Suhakam representatives.

Ibrahim clearly understood the confusion of people who naturally think that he must be against the ISA but he gave this rather narcissistic scenario on why the preventive laws were necessary: “I can round up thousands of people to demonstrate in Chow Kit and there may be trouble with the possibility of bloodshed. Now if the security people know about this before hand, they are not about to wait for it to happen. They have to stop it by detaining the organisers.”

Detain yes but only for 14 days instead of the unlimited period of many continuations, he argued. Ibrahim proposed that anyone detained under then ISA must be produced in court within 14 days with proof that the detainee meant to cause trouble that would have breached national security. “If there is no proof, let the detainee go.”

After rambling on a series of points that touched on the lapses in the New Economic Policy that undermined the Malay’s economic share, uneven awards of education scholarships, the need for Malaysia to ratify the United Nations convention on corruption and an “order” to the Rural and Regional Development Minister to visit Pasir Mas to check out the poverty there, Ibrahim appealed MPs to pay tribute to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, whom he described as the “most maligned now” despite his towering global achievements for Malaysia.

“Say what you will or curse whatever you like, I too criticised Dr Mahathir, I fought him inside the Umno supreme council when he pushed for the idea of meritocracy but who else spoke his mind, then fought the superpowers like the United States and Britain to raise Malaysia’s profile. Because of him we assume chairmanship of international bodies like OIC. I ask now you to pay tribute to him.”

For Ibrahim Ali, just his typical day of riling up people, putting himself in “harm’s way” but making sure he is heard loud and clear, while maintaining that his health (he suffers from diabetes) doesn’t take a licking. A survivor’s tale.

Ibrahim apologises to disabled, but not to Karpal Singh

The Star (8/5/08): A commotion broke out in the Parliament lobby Thursday when Datuk Ibrahim Ali (Independent - Pasir Mas) stormed out of a meeting with a group of disabled people demanding for his apology to Karpal Singh at the Parliament lobby at noon.

The group, known as Malaysians Against the Discrimination of the Disabled (MADD), urged Ibrahim to retract insulting statements he made against Karpal recently when he asked the latter to stand when speaking in Dewan Rakyat.

Ibrahim had apologised to the group initially for hurting their feelings over the remarks he made in the Dewan Rakyat to Karpal.

However, he refused to say sorry to Karpal.

"My problem was with Karpal Singh and never with all of you. I have never offended you and I love disabled people from the bottom of my heart.

"But if you all have misinterpreted my meaning, I extend my sincerest apologies.

"I hope you don't misunderstand this because there are groups trying to take advantage of you," he said, referring to several Pakatan Rakyat leaders, Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Lim Lip Eng, Loh Gwo Burne, Gobind Singh Deo and others, who had escorted the group into Parliament.

Ibrahim even added that he would propose that the Government allocate a RM500 monthly allowance to the disabled. This was greeted with cheers.

A huge spat soon ensued, however, when Lim Lip Eng (DAP - Segambut) questioned Ibrahim if he would offer a similar apology to Karpal Singh.

To this, Ibrahim shouted: "No! No! No!"

"I will not apologise to Karpal. You cannot force me. I will not apologise for the benefit of the Opposition party," he retorted, and stormed off from the meeting."

In response, the group shouted back at him: "What if you are disabled one day?"

A representative from MADD later handed over a memorandum to Opposition Leader Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

Last week, Ibrahim critised Karpal for not standing up to speak when Bung Mokhtar and Karpal were engaged in a heated exchange of insults in the Dewan Rakyat.

Parlimen yang tidak mesra OKU

Harakahdaily (8/5/08): Bangunan Parlimen bermasalah lagi dan kali ini melibatkan Lif Parlimen yang telah menyebabkan para pengguna dan pelawat terkandas kira-kira 20 minit.

Lebih malang lagi, beberapa orang Golongan Orang Kurang Upaya (OKU) turut menerima nasib yang sama ketika menggunakan lif Parlimen pada tengah hari tadi.Bersama-sama mereka ialah Ahli Parlimen Selayang, William Leong.

Dalam kejadian itu, OKU yang berada di tingkat bawah telah menaiki lif untuk ke Lobi Parlimen namun setelah sampai di tingkat satu, pintu lif tersebut hanya terbuka sedikit dan menyukarkan pengguna untuk keluar.

Lif tersebut tidak dapat dibuka kerana pintu automatiknya menghadapi masalah.

Beberapa orang petugas Parlimen telah bergegas untuk membantu namun mengalami kesukaran kerana pintu lif tersebut hanya terbuka sedikit dan kepingan logam pada pintu lif itu juga turut tercabut.

Mereka mengambil masa kira-kira 20 minit untuk membuka pintu terbabit dan memastikan semua pengguna keluar.Antara yang membantu dalam usaha memastikan OKU dapat keluar selamat di lif tersebut ialah, N Gobalakrishnan (KeADILan Padang Serai)

OKU terbabit hadir ke Parlimen untuk bertemu ahli parlimen di samping melawat sesi sidang di luar Lobi Parlimen.Kebanyakan mereka berkerusi roda. Akibat daripada itu lebih sepuluh OKU yang berkerusi roda di tingkat bawah.

Menurut beberapa ahli parlimen yang turut menyaksikan kejadian memaklumkan bahawa lif tersebut baru sahaja diperbaiki dan kali ini mengundang masalah dan orang ramai khususnya ahli parlimen terpaksa mengambil masa yang lama kerana lif tidak boleh digunakan.

Terdapat dua lif yang menuju ke bangunan Lobi Parlimen.

Seorang ahli parlimen berpendapat sewajarnya Parlimen juga turut menyediakan ruang 'eskalator' atau jalan yang menggantikan tangga khususnya untuk di gunakan oleh golongan OKU

"Mereka juga adalah rakyat kita dan mengundi kita. Sewajarnya laluan khas harus dibina bagi memudahkan mereka memasuki kawasan Parlimen. Jangan diskriminasikan mereka," katanya.

Semalam Bangunan Parlimen yang menjadi tempat ahli perundangan bersidang hari ini bocor lagi walaupun selepas dibaik pulih beberapa kali sebelum ini.

Menurut laporan agensi berita kebocoran berlaku selepas hujan lebat jam 4.30 petang apabila air keluar dari saluran penyejuk udara di bahagian tepi dewan berhampiran kawasan lobi.

Ini memaksa kakitangan Parlimen segera menutup kawasan terbabit manakala kerja pembersihan segera dilakukan sambil petugas media sibuk mengambil gambar kejadian itu.

Ini kejadian ketiga sejak tahun lalu apabila kejadian pertama di bahagian bumbung Dewan Persidangan Dewan Rakyat manakala kejadian kedua di kawasan Bilik Media.

Ketua Pentadbir Parlimen, Datuk Kamaruddin Baria, berkata kebocoran kali ini sesuatu yang tidak disangka berikutan tiada kebocoran berlaku walaupun hujan lebat sebelum ini.

Ibrahim: I have no problem with the disabled

The Star (6/5/08): After being heavily criticised for his remarks which offended the disabled community, Pasir Mas MP Datuk Ibrahim Ali has come out to say he had “no problem” with them, even saying that he contributes a lot to help those in his constituency.

The controversial Ibrahim (Independent – Pasir Mas), who irked the Opposition MPs when he teased wheelchair-bound Karpal Singh (DAP – Bukit Gelugor) for “not respecting the House” by not standing up when speaking last Wednesday, faced pressure from disabled groups demanding him to apologise and retract his remarks.

However, Ibrahim said the remarks he made had nothing to do with the “orang kurang upaya” (disabled).

“I never meant to humiliate the OKUs,” he said when approached at the Parliament lobby.

“I only targeted Karpal Singh, who raised trivial matters using the Standing Orders. Karpal Singh should have asked for permission to speak from the chair (without standing up) before he speaks,

“I did not know that he is also an OKU,” he said.

In the letters column of The Star yesterday, Society of the Orthopedically Handicapped Malaysia president Assoc Prof Dr Tiun Ling Ta and Damai Disabled Persons Association president Murugeswaran Veerasamy called on Ibrahim to retract his remarks and apologise.

Ibrahim Ali 'tunjuk belang' (Utusan Malaysia 1/5/08)

Dewan Rakyat: Telecast seen as 'our own political reality show

NST (1/5/08): From political analysts to schoolchildren, the antics of MPs in the first live telecast of question time drew nothing, but contempt.

The kindest word used to describe the 30 minutes was infotainment.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia professor Datuk Dr Shamsul Amri Baharuddin said the televised proceeding was Malaysia's own political reality show.

He described Bukit Gelugor MP Karpal Singh's incessant questioning of certain BN leaders failure to raise their hands during Monday's swearing-in ceremony as "just a piece of drama to get attention".

He opined that a later attack by Pasir Mas MP Datuk Ibrahim Ali on the wheelchair-bound Karpal, questioning why he did not ask permission from the House to allow him to speak without standing up, was made in retaliation to Karpal's shenanigans.

He added that the unsavoury name calling between Karpal and Kinabatangan MP Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin (the former addressed the latter as "Big Foot", prompting a retaliatory stab of "Big Monkey") was what made the proceedings seem like a reality show.

"They are enjoying their parliamentary immunity, even though their statements border on going against parliamentary regulations about making personal attacks and uncouth remarks."

He said with the sitting being aired on national television, MPs should mind their behaviour and not violate parliamentary etiquette.

But Shamsul said he was looking forward to more live telecasts because the old-time parliamentarians would have a field day bullying the new kids on the block.

"They will be torn apart by old tigers like Karpal and Lim Kit Siang."

Dewan turns into a ‘zoo’ over seating position, name-calling

The Star (1/5/08): The Dewan turned into a “zoo” after the seating position of Datuk Ibrahim Ali (Ind – Pasir Mas) became a bone of contention between the Speaker and the Opposition.

Razali Ibrahim (BN – Muar) was trying to ask the first question of the sitting when Karpal Singh intervened on a point of order, prompting Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin (BN – Kinabatangan) to stand up and interject.

When Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia allowed the latter to intervene, Karpal Singh said he hoped that the “bigfoot from Kinabatangan won’t disturb me”.

“You-lah, big monkey,” Bung Mokhtar retorted loudly.

Pandikar Amin then ticked off both MPs, telling them to stop this line of argument.

A roaring success: Patrons of a shop in Petaling Jaya watching the ‘Lion of Jelutong’ Karpal Singh in action during the live telecast of the parliamentary proceedings yesterday. The live telecast was a huge success, with viewers asking for more but the proceedings in the august House left much to be desired. – Glenn Guan/The Star

The DAP leader later pointed out that although Ibrahim had contested and won in the last general election on a PAS ticket, he was in the Dewan as an “independent candidate”.

“Can we know his exact position in the Dewan?” he asked the Chair.

The Speaker then told Karpal Singh off, saying that such trivial points should not be raised, to which the DAP leader shouted: “Ini bukan remeh (this is not trivial)!”

Pandikar Amin then responded: “Where Yang Berhormat sits depends on the discretion of the House. This is within my jurisdiction. If it has been decided that the YB should sit there, then there he should sit,” he said to loud cheers from the backbenchers.

Ibrahim irked the Opposition MPs when he teased wheelchair-bound Karpal Singh for “not respecting the House” by not standing up when speaking.

No hard feelings: Bung Mokhtar (left) and Karpal Singh shaking hands after their tiff in the Dewan yesterday.

This riled Fong Po Kuan (DAP – Batu Gajah), who demanded that Ibrahim retract his statement but he merely told her to “shut up”.

“Retract it. You cannot insult a disabled person. I ask Pasir Mas to retract his words,” said Fong.

To this, Ibrahim said: “I usik-usik (tease) a little bit, sudah melenting (you're are throwing a tantrum).”

“Apa usik-usik?” she asked.

“Shut up!” he shouted.

Pandikar, who had the unenviable task of keeping the House in control, told MPs that he should not be reminding them again and again to refrain from using unparliamentary words.

Ibrahim, however, argued that there was nothing unparliamentary about his choice of words.

“I said ‘shut up’. In Bahasa, it is 'diam'. All this is because everybody wants to be on TV during the half hour,” he said, referring to the 30-minute live telecast of the parliamentary sitting.