The Conduct of BN Lawmakers
UMNO
and BN can be described as recalcitrant parties. The people from UMNO are simply
ill-mannered. Any observer who comes into parliament hall to witness on-going
debates will be appalled at the moronic and low-class antics of the UMNO and BN
reps. They can’t answer arguments with reasons, they respond by shouts and heckles.
These
people are no match for the likes of Rafizi, Surendran, Ong Kian Meng, Tony
Pua, Anthony Loke. Gobind Singh strikes fear in the hearts of BN lawmakers. Sivarasa
will gnaw into you with his uncompromising reasoning.
There
are doctors, lawyers, aeronautics engineer, surgeons, and I can’t exhaust the
list. The looming quietly confident PAS ustazs. The Pakatan women MPs who can
carry themselves with much substance.
These
are the people who will carry Malaysia to new heights. I don’t have to mention
the presence of the irrepressible warhorses like Kit Siang, Karpal et al. and
of course, there is the pervading presence of the man who simply refuses to
fade away- Anwar Ibrahim, UMNO’s bête noir. The quality of opposition lawmakers
is of benchmarking standard.
I
have already developed immunity against these insults. When I rose to speak,
there will be UMNO heckling saying- he must be saying what Lim Kit Siang asks
him to. Or that, my tokong is the Lim
Family.
That’s
the behaviour from a group which knows they did not get the moral support. They
didn’t forget they won on technical grounds. BN haven’t forgotten it won only
47% of the popular votes. They are saved only by gerrymandered constituencies.
UMNO in particular won in many areas where the voter population is perhaps only
half of the voter population won by opposition PR. PR won 51% of the popular
votes while the other 2 % was accounted for by various independent parties. The
fact was, in the 13th GE, 53% of the voters did not support BN.
The
arrogance is carried into the august chamber of parliament. This is the 12th
day in the disappearance of flight MH370. The PM and the Minister of Transport
were never in parliament to explain and inform lawmakers of the missing plane.
Compare
this to how the Australian PM treats parliament. He treats parliament as it
should be treated. It’s an institution deserving of respect and a duty which is
almost filial like. Unfortunately, the arrogance which is second nature to UMNO
and BN is shown in the conduct unbecoming of the PM and the minister of the
occasion- the transport minister.
The
case of the missing flight MH370 is a national calamity which unites everyone
in grief and intense agony. The Minister of Transport cannot use the infantile
excuse of not being asked by Pakatan Rakyat to brief them on what’s going on. In
these times he cannot choose to be partisan. As a responsible person holding
office accountable to the whole country, it behoves him to present himself in
parliament every day in fact to brief the entire parliament.
The
PM should respond appropriately and heed the calls of PR parliamentarians to
form a parliamentary select committee to look into this matter.