Six reasons why fake apologies and “dishonourable closure” by two sexist BN MPs must be rejected


Women, Family and Community Development Minister, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil yesterday accepted the apologies of the two sexist Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs, Datuk Mohd Said Yusof (Jasin) and Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin (Kinabatangan) for their crude, derogatory, sexist and gender-offensive remarks in Parliament last week, saying that it was the “closure” her Ministry wanted.

All Malaysians also want a “closure” to the 10-day parliamentary scandal and national shame precipitated by two BN MPs who were guilty of sexual harassment of DAP MP for Batu Gajah, Fong Po Kuan with their sexist and male-chauvinist remarks, which also brought shame and dishonour to Parliament, Malaysian women and the nation’s international reputation.

However, it must be a honourable closure and not the most shameful and dishonourable closure orchestrated by Shahrizat yesterday, where both Mohd Said and Bung Mokhtar went through another farce of proferring an apology which on examination was really no apology at all — a counterfeit coin or a fake apology!

Firstly, both the duo flaunted their lack of sincerity in wanting to make any apology. They pointedly refused to offer a personal apology to Po Kuan, even a fake one!

When he returned to Kota Kinabalu yesterday, Bung Mokhtar said he had been directed by the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister to apologise to Malaysian women, conspicuously omitting reference to Po Kuan.

Secondly, there was no remorse or contrition in making the apology, even to Malaysian women. Both tendered their apology “if women were offended” — implying that there was nothing wrong with their remarks but with women if they were offended!

Thirdly, they justified their sexist and male-chauvinist attacks at Po Kuan on the ground that they were necessary to defend the government during debates.

Mohd Said said in his prepared statement that the duo “were only defending Barisan Nasional because the Opposition had belittled, and intentionally made unfounded, baselss claims”.

He declared: “In that situation, it is the responsibility of Barisan representatives and government supporters to defend the leadership and the Government”.

Fourthly, the above statement was as good as a declaration that they would have no hesitation in repeating their crude, derogatory, sexist and gender-offensive remarks in similar circumstances in future if they deem it necessary to defend the Barisan Nasional and the Government

Fifthly, both had lied when they claimed that they had been “provoked” to make the crude, derogatory, sexist and gender-offensive attacks on Po Kuan. The video footage of this disgraceful parliamentary conduct is up on YouTube, Google and many blogs. On YouTube alone, which received a four-and-a-half star rating, it was viewed more than 41,700 times.

All can see that when Mohd Said and Bung Mokhtar made the crude, derogatory, sexist and gender-offensive remarks, neither Po Kuan nor any DAP MP was out to insult them or was making “unfounded, baseless claims”, as they were legitimately trying to raise in the House the scandal of Parliament leaking again after a RM90 million renovation less than two years ago!

Both Mohd Said and Bung Mokhtar made the sexist attacks on Po Kuan when there was no provocation — when totally unprovoked! If both of them could tell such a bare-faced lie when the video footage is available for all to see, how could anyone believe in any of their claims and statements?

Sixthly, they had added insult to injury in humiliating Malaysian women when Mohd Said alleged that “the incident was manipulated by the opposition who pictured it (the incident) negatively, and made it look different from what really happened in the Dewan Rakyat” while Bung Mokhtar said the incident was blown out of proportion by DAP by highlighting it in the media and dragging along the women’s organizations in the country.

Here, the duo were not only justifying their sexist attacks on Po Kuan but have gone one step further in accusing women organizations of being too gullible and mindless in allowing themselves to be manipulated by the DAP — another example of the duo’s contempt for the integrity, commitment and professionalism of women organizations and women leaders!

For these six reasons, the fake apologies of Mohd Said and Bung Mokhtar must be rejected for this is a most dishonourable closure as both BN MPs have added salt to the wounds of Po Kuan, Malaysian women, Parliament and the nation’s reputation!

This was why the 1,200 people who attended the Cheras DAP Dinner in Kuala Lumpur last night unanimously by show-of-hands rejected the fake apologies of Mohd Said and Bung Mokhtar.

I call on all political parties, in particular MCA, Gerakan, MIC, SUPP and Sabah BN component parties and their wanita and youth wings, NGOs and Malaysians to make clear their rejection of the “fake apologies” of Mohd Said and Bung Mokhtar for their sexism and male chauvinism in Parliament last week and to demand for their proper punishment

The public forum “Respect Women’s Dignity Towards a 1st World Parliament” at YMCA Hall, Kuala Lumpur on Thursday night adopted a five-point penalty for Mohd Said and Bung Mohtar, viz:

1. Six-month suspension as MP.

2. Six-month community service with women groups.

3. Donation of the their entire parliamentary allowance during suspension to women groups.

4. Full apology to Fong Po Kuan and Malaysian women.

5. If no full apology, the six-month suspension and community service to be extended to 12 months.

I call on all political parties, in particular MCA, Gerakan, MIC, SUPP and Sabah BN component parties and their wanita and youth wings, NGOs and Malaysians to take a common stand in a nation-wide campaign to support this five-point punishment for the two errant BN MPs.

  1. #1 by CoolMike on Saturday, 19 May 2007 - 3:39 pm

    If the PM is Man Enough, he should direct and also apologize to all women including YB Po Kuan.

    A head is always responsible for what a tail did! If his men is not Behaving, Rude and Kurang Ajar, it is PM responsibilities. Since he is the one who choose them to be there. Period!

    Cool Mike

  2. #2 by moong cha cha II on Saturday, 19 May 2007 - 3:42 pm

    MCA only got balls to attack Maybank.

    UMNO is MCA’s master.

    woof – woof – woof

  3. #3 by Godfather on Saturday, 19 May 2007 - 5:07 pm

    Let’s move on. The public knows that those were not real apologies but lame excuses. Just remember to hit the clowns – this includes the entire administration, not just the two monkeys – where it hurts the most: the ballot box.

  4. #4 by lianchan on Saturday, 19 May 2007 - 5:12 pm

    i look at them reading out the statements on national tv and i know they don’t have any remorse. They just do what they do because they are told to do so.

    Malu! Malu betul!

  5. #5 by lianchan on Saturday, 19 May 2007 - 5:14 pm

    It’s a complete joke they still hold the title Datuk. Shame, shame shame shame shame… they must have super thick skin. Gross misconduct, yet overlooked by the Prime Minister as nothing important. This is a haywire country.

  6. #6 by lianchan on Saturday, 19 May 2007 - 5:15 pm

    You take a look at both of them and you say they are satyrs and pimps and you could have been right.

  7. #7 by CoolMike on Saturday, 19 May 2007 - 6:24 pm

    Datuk Title?

    What is Datuk anyway? Like the saying said, if you spit in Malaysia, you have a good chance of hitting a Datuk!

    I bet YB Lim will politely turn down any datukship! (

  8. #8 by Jeffrey on Saturday, 19 May 2007 - 6:41 pm

    So now the errant duo MPs have not only to still apologise in a more genuine way for (a) their original trangressions of making the ‘bochor’ remarks in Parliament AND (b) for making ‘fake’ apology outside parliament?

    Can someone quick come out with an eloquent specimen and derfat for the duo’s adoption? Undergrad2? Can trust they cannot come out with a satisfactory one of their own (drafted by their bosses)!

    You say in relation to the fake apology made outside parliament, they have said that “the incident was manipulated by the opposition who pictured it (the incident) negatively, and made it look different from what really happened in the Dewan Rakyat” while Bung Mokhtar said the incident was blown out of proportion by DAP by highlighting it in the media and dragging along the women’s organizations in the country. Here, the duo were not only justifying their sexist attacks on Po Kuan but have gone one step further in accusing women organizations of being too gullible and mindless in allowing themselves to be manipulated by the DAP – another example of the duo’s contempt for the integrity, commitment and professionalism of women organizations and women leaders!”. Since they were uttered outside Parliament, do these spurious allegations still enjoy legal immunity from being actionable? I should think not.

  9. #9 by DiaperHead on Saturday, 19 May 2007 - 7:02 pm

    “They pointedly refused to offer a personal apology to Po Kuan, even a fake one!” LKS

    What is their problem? If women can fake their orgasms and often do, why don’t these two follow conventional wisdom and fake their own contrition??

    And do all of us a favor and end this chapter of women’s right not to be insulted – it is not as if only women have the right not to be insulted.

    The insults made by the duo were insults against all present – men and women.

  10. #10 by scooter on Saturday, 19 May 2007 - 7:42 pm

    If calling Sharizat doesn’t work,why not try other woman BN MP.I’m sure they can find one that works.Good luck Mr PM.

  11. #11 by Libra2 on Saturday, 19 May 2007 - 8:27 pm

    “I bet YB Lim will politely turn down any datukship!”
    This government does not give this title to opposition members. However, even a dog in the Barisan Nasional has a better chance of being given such an award.
    A datukship is worth 2 sen.

  12. #12 by jnet on Saturday, 19 May 2007 - 8:30 pm

    lousy MPs are talking word like not going thru their mind.
    BUT people from Jasin & Kinabatangan still VOTING & show SUPPORT for them. Those people… please AWAKEN! SEEING IS BELIEVING!

  13. #13 by Jeffrey on Saturday, 19 May 2007 - 8:39 pm

    “..//..This government does not give this title to opposition members..//..”

    The exception is Tan Sri Dato’ Dr David Tan Chee Khoon.

  14. #14 by hanuman on Saturday, 19 May 2007 - 9:13 pm

    Quote
    Mohd Said said in his prepared statement that the duo “were only defending Barisan Nasional because the Opposition had belittled, and intentionally made unfounded, baselss claims”.

    He declared: “In that situation, it is the responsibility of Barisan representatives and government supporters to defend the leadership and the Government”.
    Unquote

    Read between the lines and the cat is out of the bag, so the present Government and BN representatives are all sexist.

  15. #15 by ENDANGERED HORNBILL on Saturday, 19 May 2007 - 9:24 pm

    A lie by any other name is still a lie.

    Shahrizat, Bung Kinabatangan & ‘Closed one-eye’ MP knows that in their heart of hearts!

  16. #16 by toyolbuster on Saturday, 19 May 2007 - 9:32 pm

    I would like to add a 6th-point penalty for Mohd Said and Bung Mohtar.

    6. To clean up the ladies toilets for 6 months, at the Parliament House and to systematically discard all the used sanitary pads and disinfect and sanitise the bins.

  17. #17 by ihavesomethingtosay on Saturday, 19 May 2007 - 9:35 pm

    SHAM, shameless deceit comedy.

    First of all, insult was directed directly at YB PO KUAN and the women of BATU GAJAH, how can Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil accept on YB PO KUAN’s behalf?

    This is the very kind of lame duck insincere apology and excuses barisan NAJIS keep’s comming out.

    This is not an apology but an excuse to insult YB PO KUAN and the women of BATU GAJAH further.

    I hope these two idiots have continuous diahorea, so they may leak in their pants everyday throughout their miserable life!

  18. #18 by moong cha cha II on Saturday, 19 May 2007 - 9:46 pm

    personally, we need people like them around

    it helps bring BN down and reveal BN non-credibility

    if BN is like PAP, then opposition parties in Malaysia have no issues to raise

    but then if BN is like PAP, we will truly see a united Malaysian country. No bumiputra, no non-bumiputra, no ketuanan Melayu, all are treated the same.

    Either all of us are called Bumiputra or all of us are called Non-Bumiputra.

  19. #19 by negarawan on Saturday, 19 May 2007 - 9:47 pm

    I think its time to close this issue. Although the apologies were offered reluctantly, nevertheless it has been offered in a general term. So be it, and don’t expect more from BN. This is not a key election issue, and DAP should not waste more time on this. It becomes petty after a while.

  20. #20 by crosstalk on Saturday, 19 May 2007 - 11:40 pm

    Being Malaysians,we are both angry and ashamed of the behaviour shown by the two idiots and their gang.These people got kepala but no brain.The ‘red dot’ leaders and their people are now convinced their nation is much more advanced n progressive than we are and will remain so as long as we are ruled by the morons.

  21. #21 by pwcheng on Sunday, 20 May 2007 - 12:04 am

    Lets move on and let the people of Malaysia and the whole world judge for themselves on the issue on the “bocor” remark as a whole and not just a piecemeal on the issue of apology. Now that enough had been said and the whole country had stood together, except some recalcitrant UMNO MPs, most Malaysians are intelligent enough to judge and if they have a collection of such misjudgments, it is good for the country because that will be the trigger point for the people to change the government.

    Thinking positively, It will definitely be a blessing for the people for we all need more of these to stir the emotions of the people for a change. Lets hope and pray that they are blind to power until it is taken away from them. Then only we can talk of world class parliament by sending all these low class robbers to jail.

  22. #22 by sheriff singh on Sunday, 20 May 2007 - 12:04 am

    Now what will the responses from the women NGO’s and women in general be? This is the key factor.

    If women in general accept the “apology”, then OK, what else can be done? But if they see through this faux “apology” or feel it is not sincere or adequate, then they must come out and say so and get a proper apology.

    Apologies must be genuine and sincere and without conditions – no “ifs”, “becauses”, “whys” or “buts ” or “because I was directed to do so”. No need to explain why you were making the “apology” or the rationale behind it.

    Just a plain straight-forward full apology and a declaration of regret and a promise not to repeat the act.

    As the offence was commited in Parliament, the apology should have been tendered in Parliament not in some junior Cabinet minister’s office. The two MPs owe the House an apology for making the derogatory remarks there. Further, they should make the apology to everyone, not necessarily to women alone but also their menfolk. Were men not offended as well?

    And if Bung Bocor and Said mata-bocor are jantans, they will have the bolas to say sorry to Fong Po Kuan as a woman, not as a DAP MP. But then they…….

    And what about their accomplices Najib, Nazri, Shahrir, Tangga Batu etc. Don’t they need to apologise too?

    Case closed with “grace”? Hardly. Its a farce.

    By the way, my friends and I were watching the “apology” session. It was a joke. We were all waiting for all of them, especially Shahrizat, to burst out in laughter from their “serious” expressions. Maybe they were good actors acting to script or their suspenders and corsets were on too tight. Or they had constipation that morning. Just our thoughts then.

  23. #23 by kianhoe_oh on Sunday, 20 May 2007 - 12:18 am

    Greatness in life is being humble………………..
    Are the 2 parliamentarian clowns truly remorseful?? Definitely NOT!!! ‘Ikut arahan sahaja’. Common sense will relate to anyone that the apology must be directed at the victim concerned together with all those around her. ‘Wayang Sahaja’. They can bluff many people most of the time but not all the people everytime. Beware of retribution in life as we need to be GOD fearing and to be fair in all that 1 does.

  24. #24 by Lee Wang Yen on Sunday, 20 May 2007 - 1:07 am

    These six reasons are excellent points, reflecting the observation of an eminently reasonable man. This is the quality we need in our parliament. In contrast, what Nazri, Najib, Bung & Said and Shahrizat said run counter to reason and rationality. Below are some examples of their poor excuses that barely hold water. I don’t think it takes an analytic philosopher to see how bad their arguments are. Some simple commnon sense will do.
    1. Bung & Said: we just wanted to defend the government [What is the appropriate way of defending something? By flat denial of fact (‘mana ada bocor’ when there are many leakages, as pointed out by Samy. If they didn’t know whether there was any leakage, then they shouldn’t say anything. The need to defend something is not a reason for us to say something that we have no idea of)? By irrelevant and irreverent answer? Can you defend a person in court or a point of view in a debate in this way? The only proper way to defend the government is to prove that the claims and allegations of corruption and malpractice on the part of the government are unfounded.]
    2. Nazri: ‘…only a play on words’ [‘a play on word’s is not a justification for uttering insulting words as an irrelevant and irreverent answer to a serious question, just like pornography cannot be advocated in the name of art, brutality in the name of sports etc.]
    3. Nazri: ‘…cannot control their emotions…’ [Ought implies can. Since mature human beings with moral awareness ought to control their emotions, they certainly CAN do so. Otherwise it would be unreasonable to expect people to control their emotions – I couldn’t imagine the kind of havoc the world will get into if we are not supposed to expect people to control their emotions. We do not expect infants to control their emotions. But these duo are not infants. A failure to control emotions is a reason for receiving punishment and offering sincere apology, not a defence or justification for what he did in the heat of an emotional outburst. A rapist cannot be let go even if he says that he did it because he could not control his desires. This reveals the kind of moral standards Nazri has.]
    4. Najib: ‘…should be taken with a sense of humour’ [Is there no difference between humour and insult even when both make people laugh? He seems to think that since humourous words are those that make people laugh, any word that makes people laugh is humourous. This reasoning is akin to the argument that since all chickens have two legs, every being with two legs is a chicken. ]
    Sadly, what I see in Malaysian politics is the dire situation where brute force and blind loyality prevail over reason and rationality. It seems to me that holding out any hope for a better Malaysia is merely a wishful thinking, given that it is very unlikely to get enough reasonable people like Kit Siang elected to positions that will make some significant influence in the political arena. The realities of the demography and electoral system of Malaysia are such that some people will never get elected to influential positions that will make a real difference, however good they are. Sadly, the same realities also mean that many of a simliar kind to Bung & Said, Nazri & Najib etc. will continue to rule over those who are more intelligent, reasonable, responsible, and ethical. The realities of Malaysian politics are such that, however good Kit Siang is, he is unlikely to make any significant difference, given the constraints imposed by the unfair system. Worse still, it is unlikely to change the system, given the realities.

  25. #25 by pwcheng on Sunday, 20 May 2007 - 2:07 am

    These people has no fear in God, though they pretend to be God fearing. Banging your head towards God is of no consequence when your evil deeds of corruption becomes embedded in your bones.

  26. #26 by lupus on Sunday, 20 May 2007 - 7:11 am

    defending BN justify everything – well, that is a good one when I break the law and make offending remarks.

  27. #27 by Jong on Sunday, 20 May 2007 - 8:49 am

    Libra2 said:
    “This government does not give this title to opposition members. However, even a dog in the Barisan Nasional has a better chance of being given such an award.
    A datukship is worth 2 sen.”

    Spot on, Libra2! “dato” or “datuks”, no big deal, the streets are line with them.

    Disgraced former MP(mca) Thong Fah Chong of Ipoh who made sexist remarks in Parliament some years back, now sent into political oblivion by Malaysian women voters, was given a dato-ship recently.

    What a shame, crude vulgar mouthed morons and imbeciles from the ‘culture of the Beverley Hillibilies’ (to quote RPK in Malaysia-today.net), have joined the so-called ‘elite group’ !

  28. #28 by Alvin on Monday, 21 May 2007 - 7:47 pm

    Proven and factual Malaysian Politics
    • Bung & Said (B & S) made a non provoke boo boo
    • Najib defended that its with humour
    • Nazri also defended the clown; they cannot control emotions
    • Shahrizat offered an ill planned escape route
    • AAB maintained his silence as he doesn’t know how to reprimand
    • B & S issued ‘apology’ – anyone with brains can see fake all over their face
    • MCA maintains graceful silence; must support Big Brother irrespective
    • B & S offer lame excuse and created more shit in their defence.
    Isn’t all this too familiar . . .
    There seems to be ONLY ONE ACTION required.
    CHANGE. . .

  29. #29 by ktteokt on Monday, 21 May 2007 - 11:45 pm

    In the first place, how did these two “jokers” get into Parliament? The people in their constituencies should conduct a “re-evaluation” of the worthiness of these two idiots. Passing such an irresponsible comment, offending womenhood and all women in Malaysia is no small matter.

    Shouldn’t these two so-called “highly educated idiots” think twice before they speak? Parliamentary privilege should not include passing such nasty remarks. Strict disciplinary action should be taken against them to avoid future offences.

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