Posted on by Kit

Two sexist BN MPs – Shahrizat gender-desensitised when she should have gender-sensitised Cabinet

The farce of the “apology to Po Kuan and all Malaysian women, then only to Malaysian women but not to Po Kuan, and then not even to Malaysian women” has shown the true colours of the two sexist Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs Datuk Mohd Said Yusof (Jasin) and Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin (Kinabatangan) who had brought shame and dishonour not only to Poh Kuan, but Parliament, Malaysian women and the nation’s international reputation.

It is clear that both the duo had no sense of remorse or regret for their crude, vulgar, sexist gender-offensive remarks directed at DAP MP for Batu Gajah Fong Po Kuan in Parliament last Wednesday.

However, they were prepared to apologise to Po Kuan and women, as they did yesterday morning, if it is politically necessary for them to do so to continue as BN MPs.

They had tried to jump the gun yesterday morning by making public their apology to Po Kuan and Malaysian women for their sexist and gender-offensive remarks in Parliament last week because they were made to understand that the Cabinet would be directing them to issue such an apology.

But when they found that the Cabinet had made no such decision, they quickly retracted their apology, at first excluding Po Kuan and later even withdrawing their apology to all Malaysian women altogether.

This was cheap and low-class farce, bringing even more shame and dishonour to Parliament, Malaysian women and the nation.

All Malaysian women and men must now tell the two sexist BN MPs — that their apology whether tomorrow or in the future are totally worthless, and that they must be given appropriate punishment not only for their gender-offensive “male chauvinist” outbursts in Parliament last week but also for the low farce yesterday showing their utter contempt for common decency and public opinion.

What is most pathetic in yesterday’s low farce is the role of the Women, Family and Community Development Minister, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, who had come out of the whole episode in the worst possible light.

Shahrizat was supposed to educate the Cabinet Ministers about the subject of gender-sensitivity — but instead of gender-sensitising the Cabinet, she was gender-desensitised by the Cabinet meeting yesterday.

Why should the Cabinet relegate the issue of the two sexist BN MPs to be dealt with the Shahrizat, downgrading it to a minor and trivial problem? Is this what Shahrizat meant when she had earlier said that she would raise it in the Cabinet — for the football to be kicked officially to her Ministry?

Why can’t Shahrizat get the Cabinet to see the seriousness of the issue and to take a decision commensurate with the gravity of the offence committed by the two sexist BN MPs?
Or do we have not only these two MCP BN MPs, but a MCP Cabinet as well?

When Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi became Prime Minister, Malaysians were promised a “First-World Parliament” but we have instead a ninth-class Parliament.

I will convene a Parliamentary Roundtable of all political parties, NGOs and concerned Malaysians to demand a “First-World Parliament NOW” where there is no sexual harassment and where “male chauvinist” sexist remarks will never be heard again in the highest legislative chamber in the land; a “First World Parliament” where the Prime Minister, Ministers and MPs are diligent and conscientious in their attendance and accountability; a First World Parliament where Select Committees play a meaningful and effective role in proposing new thinking to the government and nation in facing the challenges of nation-building, globalization and international competitiveness and a First-World Parliament all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or gender, can look up with pride, love and admiration..

DAP MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok will be the co-ordinator for the Parliamentary Roundtable for “First-World Parliament NOW” to be held in Parliament House next Saturday, 26th May 2007.

The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz as well as all other Cabinet Ministers are also invited to the Parliamentary Roundtable for First-World Parliament.

34 Replies to “Two sexist BN MPs – Shahrizat gender-desensitised when she should have gender-sensitised Cabinet”

  1. e is missing!
    not two sexist BN MP, but two sexiest BN MP

    did FPK say, ‘don’t apologise to me, but apologise to all women?’
    ——–
    my friend reminded me that in a different religion, women are less respected and have a lower status, thus men can make sexual remarks on women without problem.

  2. My wife doesnt read about politics and the shit that is going on currently BUT when I told her about the MP whom made remarks of “leaking”, she calmly tells me that it is disrespectful to woman with that remark.

    She said that it could be a tactic to deviate the true issue lies before this and it is about the governmental building having corrupted agency that cause massive damage and low quality worksmanship.

    I love her for this statement, it shows she really smart and with the fog she calmly step through and saw the true picture.

    Lets not forget about the problems in Putrajaya. Those two may be the scapegoat. No wonder, why we are having really incapable and visionless MP in our government, so that they can be sacrifised as the scapegoat.

    Anyhow, I got work to do..cant spend so much time reading and commenting on this political stuffs.

    I hope that one day I could concentrate on helping the nation but right now, I need to build and care for my family.

  4. Talking about Cabinet meetings. There seems to be some power play in there, subtle or not I am not sure.

    Yesterday the Cabinet issued a full page advertisement in the newspapers to wish “Selamat Hari Guru” in conjunction with Teachers’ Day.

    Note that Rafidah signed Higher than Najib and Hishamuddin, the DPM and Education Minister respectively, in fact higher than everybody else except the PM.

    Maybe she’s trying to say something, that’s she’s really number two, she’s more senior and indispensible than everybody else below her, that she’s the real First Lady, women power etc etc. Is there a hidden message? Was it deliberate?

    A friend, a handwriting specialist who works for the Police, had a field day analysing their handwritings and there are curious, very curious, results.

    Some are creative, some are combative, some are well, lacking in mental faculties, some might even have not so honourable intentions, some are decisive, some appear shady, some just couldn’t care less, some really wants to be loved and need attention, some are very meticulous etc etc.

    What a mixed bag of people we have in the Cabinet of many extremes. However, it was an eye-opener for me but hey, it was only just a cursory reading.

    Interesting to note that the PM uses “Pak Lah” in his signature (not officially, of course) and in various adverts with Khir Toyo, Bandaraya etc. It tells alot about this man, his thinking and behaviour. What, I won’t tell. You find out for yourself. The evidence in out there.

  5. The 2 MP’s reflect the mentality and chauvinism of the entire Badawi cabinet. It seems the whole issue is trivialised and turned into a media circus. Its obvious the MP’s are not going to apologise sincerely. The one who should take action is the PM. But it seems he is too preoccupied with his own aganda to make any amends.

    The people must by now see the futility of our country in achieving developed status. It is impossible with the existence of such incompetent and spineless leaders. Believe me, the whole sandiwara has already been decided. Sharizat will have a talk with these monkeys and announce that it was all a misunderstanding and the press misintepreted and blew up the whole issue like C4!!!

  7. I’ve watched the video clips featuring these two notorious BN MPs acting like schoolchildren in the parliament. Frankly, I wasn’t really disturbed by the fact that they had said what they had said though I was certainly appalled by what they had said. Having read their track-record, one would only think that it was perfectly natural, in view of their disposition as revealed by their past, that they would say what they did – they couldn’t do better. However, what really disturbed me was our leaders’ handling of the issue. I think the worst culprit in this incident is neither Bung nor Said, but Nazri, who had the audacity to defend their acts with laughable excuses. He even added insult to injury by shifting the blame explicitly to the opposition, the press, and implicitly to the women who felt offended when he said that the duo might want to consider apologising for the fact that some women might have felt offended by the words when the incident was reported in the press. This implies that the apology is not required had the press not reported the incident or if Malaysian women had not felt insulted. This is in fact a backhanded way of blaming and accusing others rather than a genuine apology. If Nazri, who made this irresponsible statement after the cabinet meeting, is in any way representative of the cabinet, then we really need to worry about its leadership quality. It seems to me that the PM and his cabinet’s handling of the incident so far has revealed that they are only concerned about not allowing the opposition to score a point rather than about the dignity of parliament or women. They seem to think that exacting an apology from the duo or punishing them in some way (I think the latter makes more sense given that the duo are unrepentant) will mean a victory for the DAP. This is a very immature mentality that drives them to take an approach that will ensure that the DAP is denied scoring any point. If this is what they think then I can tell them to their face (and I believe all reasonable people will agree) that they are wrong – we respect people who courageously admit their mistakes and uphold truth, morality and justice fearlessly by punishing the wrongdoers, and loathe those who shamelessly defend wrongdoing or wrongdoers to the hilt in the name of partisan loyalty. If the cabinet had done what it should have been doing – punish the duo – I would have thought that the ruling party had scored an impressive point. But sadly, they kept (and may well keep) losing points.

  10. With aab, u wonder where is he sleeping at or if he is still alive or not.
    Well, he is enjoying durian with Singapore PM and enjoying the Langkawi sun and sea, let everywhere in Malaysia “bocor” and he still didn’t know where he must sumbat first.

  11. AAB is taking a time off from managing domestic issues because he have to attend to international agenda with SG. You know that he hate not to be involved in such an ‘important’ meeting and he cannot postponed them.
    Please don’t ask him to step down that soon with all the advantages he ‘gained’ from his cabinets weaknesses. He can be assured for another terms and the last man laughing under all these ‘given’ advantages is none other than his SIL.
    Now, the SIL will be more busy with business acquisitions and ‘take over by forces without need to pay a single sen’. More and more GLCs will have new faces in the board of directors and local states councillors too will be affected.
    Maybe we might host a Mat Rempit Challenge Cup annually too in each states too…

  13. YB Kit, keep up your good work and your relentless energy to make known to public in your blog what often went unreported in our boring papers. Support you all the way.

    To “REALWORLD who wrote: Enough la. How many times must one apologize?? Funny isnt it. The people still choose us to govern and rule.”

    You BN MP,uh ? Thank you for your interest to read and comment.

  14. I dont know why they want to blow this out of porportion. As though, we dont have enough problem in hand. A simple & sincere aplogy will go along way… Sometime a mistake is not that bad BUT what happen after the mistake worsen it.

    I am very sure, they will be FORCE to aplogize. Mark my word!

  15. YB Kit, u r doing a great job .. your relentless energy against the odds. And uncovering the unreported in this blog. Support you all the way.

    In Japan, the Head is the first to apologize or resign or HARAKIRI if so much shame is brought by his department. Either our Head don’t think it is shameful or have disowned those 2 monkeys…that nothing is happening.

    I am wondering .. how come no reporter asked the PM to comment on this issue ??

  16. I feel Pak Lah should come down hard on those two imbeciles, if he really want to mantain his slogan of moulding a first world mentality.

    In any developed nation, such stupid statements would have those two monkeys expelled or resign. If I rember rightly, Glenn Hoddle, football manager of England was forced toresign after making an uncalled for statement about the handcapped.

    Here those two monkeys are insulting half of the population and yet Pak Lah can just keep his elegant silence!

  18. “If the cabinet had done what it should have been doing – punish the duo – I would have thought that the ruling party had scored an impressive point.”

    CAbinet?? It is not for Cabinet to chastise the duo but UMNO and the constituents i.e. UMNO in their meetings and the constituents via the electoral process.

    But had not Parliamentary sessions been partisan over all matters, the right thing to do was for DAP to move a motion to censure the two ill-behaved MPs and for the House to support it.

    But now there is a tidal wave of protests from women organizations, the DAP’s choice to ride the tidal wave is understandable. But would it win more electoral support for itself over this narrow but nevertheless important issue which is to bring “decorum and dignity to the House” as one woman Minister was heard to have said?

  19. Let me hazard a guess how this episode will be played out.

    After the Friday meeting, there will be a press conference. Sharizat will say that that she has met the two YB MPs who has explained to her that they uttered those offensive words because they were provoked. They will say they have no intention to insult women at large and she will say she has accepted their explanation. She will say she understands their feelings but she has nevertheless conveyed to them the Cabinet’s displeasure for their conduct and told them not to repeat such disgraceful behaviour. She will say she has accepted their apology to all women and considers the matter closed. Happy ending.

    This charade is set up for damage control and to pacify women voters in the coming GE. Sharizat was chosen because she is a woman and also her ministry is responsible for women affairs. BN hopes this will give the charade more credibility.

    Why charade? Just take a look at Nazri’s defiant stand even whilst Sharizat was tasked to meet the two miscreants. But Nazri did not realise that in trying to defend the disgraceful actions of the two, claiming

    “……this is part of parliamentary debates. Both MPs uttered the words during the heat of their debate, and you cannot control people’s emotions.”

    he has actually described their behaviour as animal like, which is what Bung Mohktar had claimed DAP had called him and which he objected to. Because only animals cannot control their emotions. More evolved species like humans can and do control their emotions and that is what sets us apart from the lower species. Also, the human of the species knows right from wrong and apologises for their mistakes. Animals do not.

    And what is Nazri trying to justify with this comment? That it is OK to walk around and beat up people when we cannot control our emotions? I can understand if such comments are made by uncouth specimens like Jasin and Kinabatangan but Nazri was supposed to be a trained legal person? Like they say, you can take a man out of the kampung but you cannot take the kampung out of the man.

    And he also claims they have no agenda against Fong. No agenda? Take a look at the video again and listen to the comments. Who were they directed at? Eve? Man, please do not add blind and deaf to dumb. No wonder TDM calls this Cabinet half past six!!!

  20. The two idiots tried to pass the roof bocor as trivial. Our good minister Samy thinks otherwise:

    SAMY VELLU: Leakage at Parliament building severe
    By :
    Email to friend Email to Friend Print article Print Article
    KUALA LUMPUR, THURS:

    THE roof of Parliament building needs to be rebuilt to resolve the leakage problem, Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said today.
    The roof had to be installed with waterproofing and heat protection, he told reporters after inspecting the roof and effects of the ceiling leakage near the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara galleries.

    “As an architect by qualification, I believe the present condition is severe. We must dismantle the whole structure and build it again with waterproofing equipment,” he said.

    He said that presently, leakages had been detected at five places and if immediate measures were not taken, the situation would worsen and the leak could happen at 10 or 15 other places.

    Besides, he said, loads of rubbish had been found on the roof and the pipes which blocked the flow of water.
    Samy Vellu said that when the interior restoration and renovation works were carried out costing RM90 million in 2005, the installation of water proofing equipment was not included in the contract.

    Hence, he said, several architects and the Public Works Department (PWD) maintenance director had been told to carry out a comprehensive inspection on the leakage.

    He said a working paper on the maintenance work and costs to be incurred would be ready for submission to the Cabinet in three days.

    “I have also instructed them not to leave anything behind so that the maintenance work is to be undertaken comprehensively so that it will not happen again in the next 20 or 30 years,” he said.

  22. There are more pressing and more important issues. The point has been delivered home with this misstep by the MPs concerned. I am sure they have been told not to repeat such behavior.

    Time to move on guys!

  23. So far, AAB has not uttered a word about the misbehaviour of his two MPs. Doesn’t this tell you, by his elegant silence, he is actually condoning the acts of these two morons? So what more can we say?

  25. “Work with me” implies that he is like you and I i.e. mere employees working towards some objective larger than ourselves. Except that as the CEO he gets paid some $20k a month and we RM200 (if we’re lucky); and “Don’t work for me” means he is not going to pay you any salary.

  28. Not everyone gets a chance in his life to be a leader/prime minister. In that position one has the opportunity to either answer a higher calling, to make a difference in the lives of many many people for the better or to make a difference for the better only in one’s own life. We originally thought that in “work with me, don’t walk with me”, he had seen a higher vision but after 4 years, he had nothing much to show by way of leadership and his words like much of his legacy so far have been only sloganeering – nice in form, empty of substance. He has behaved like most ordinary humans seeking comfort, financial security and prestige and power to maintain these ends. He has frittered once in a life time opportunity to leave behind a footprint in the sands of time and forfeited just like his predecessor the respect and indebtedness of his countrymen and a hallowed space in the pages of Malaysian history.

  29. AAB is considered as lucky and the whole system of Malays PM prophecy works into his favor as soon as AI case have been well executed back then. Also have to thank KJ for his mastermind plan to be with the right stream with a total objective to take control.
    When E left, we all know that AAB will have nothing more to focus with. That’s where KJ first draw his aggressive shot and getting more things going his way from there onward.
    Sometimes, our main reason of all these events taking place, simply indicates that we did not change effectively with the time. That’s why KJ has the last laugh.

  30. “You BN MP,uh ? Thank you for your interest to read and comment.” – kaizen

    Funny , you know. You picked up my comments and duly responded to it.
    How come you did not respond to comments by some posters here who responded by insulting Rafidah & Shahrizat??
    You the one eyed jack here, is it?

  31. quote – scooter Says:

    May 17th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
    Apologise or no apology BN is going to win this coming GE.Why like that? Everywhere you hear people condeming the govt. and voting the ROCKET.I hope i am wrong this time. – unquote

    Result will be the same because nothing has changed. DAP is still thinking the oldways..If you think like a corporate entity or like a business entity, to progress and build a new stigma..a better one.. a name change is a great Start!

    Example, Telekom Malaysia now known as TM.

    DAP you need to take action within yourself, NOT just having barking dogs..you need to build a new image, take lead in creating a mulitracial party..

    In my opinion..PKR or PAS isnt suitable to build a party similar to BN. If those guys arent cooperative..build within DAP but a name change of the Party will do wonders.

    Believe what you see in the corporate world.. Ride the Dragons not just looking at it.

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