During the debate in Parliament today on the Youth Societies and Youth Development Bill, I called on the Umno Youth leader and Education Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein to apologise for his “keris-wielding” episodes to restore confidence as a symbol for national integration among students in the nation’s schools.
This raised the heckles of UMNO MPs in the House particularly Datuk Badruddin bin Amiruldin (Jerai) and Idris Harun (Tangga Batu) who demanded clarifications which I rejected as I had only ten minutes to speak as the second last speaker on the Bill.
As a result, the last MP in the debate, Razali Ismail (Muar) started his speech on the “keris-wielding” episodes, allowing Badruddin to go on a rampage to accuse me of being disrespectful and contemptuous of Malay culture and the Yang di Pertuan Agong in not accepting the keris as a national symbol.
In rebuttal, I made it very clear that I accepted without reservation the Malay keris as part of the national emblem, and that when the Yang di Pertuan Agong unsheathed and kissed the keris, it was a symbol of justice.
However, what was unacceptable was when the Umno Youth leader wielded the keris in the context of extremist and communal demands utterly insensitive of the feelings and rights of all communities in the country. I reminded Umno MPs that at the recent Umno Youth general assembly, an Umno Youth delegate even asked when Hishammuddin was going to use the keris now that he had wielded it twice — highlighting the totally unacceptable circumstances of the keris episodes. Continue reading “Hishammuddin – apologise for “keris-wielding” episodes to restore confidence as a symbol for national integration among students”