Monday, June 30, 2008

Snake In The House

Hamidah Osman the BN Sungai Rapat state assembly-person recently put a question to the Perak State Speaker, YB Sivakumar whether he agreed or disagreed with the so called well-known saying “of whether one should kill first a snake or a man from a certain community”. She did not specify which community she was referring to but it is generally understood that she meant Malaysian Indians and she did not deny such an inference.

Initially she refused to retract the question but did so only after being ordered by the BN Chief Whip Datuk Seri Tajol Rosli Ghazali (BN-Pengkalan Hulu).

To his credit, Datuk Seri Tajol Rosli had the sense to order Hamidah Osman to retract it immediately. Her remark, received a sound round of condemnation, call for apology and disciplinary action from a wide spectrum of leaders, ranging from MIC President, Dato Seri S.Samy Vellu to DAP Chairman, YB Lim Kit Siang.

Hamidah did apologize to the Indian Community yesterday (29th June, 2008) over TV3 saying that she is sorry if she had hurt its feeling and that she always had a good relationship with this community.

I remember such statements being used by members of one community against another as a sign of despise and distrust. It is appalling for anyone to come up with such a statement, regardless of against which community it is directed at. It is a venomous prejudice uttered by bigots to stoke racial hatred.

It is unforgivable for an elected representative and that too in the august house of state assembly to put forth such a statement, even in the form of a question!

The fact that Hamidah withheld the name of the community betrays her mischievous intent to make a statement without being held accountable for it. What was she thinking?!!!
How are we, members of component parties, to convince the electorate that BN has everyone’s interest at heart when someone like Hamidah goes around making such a statement?

Sorry Hamidah, a mere apology for such a statement will not do! It was not a slip of the tongue nor a statement made out of ignorance. It was a calculated statement made to display your ‘hatred’ without being held responsible for it.

BN must not allow such callousness, to say the least, from its representatives to go unpunished. A stern action by BN will indicate to all that BN does not tolerate racial intolerance; failure to do so will erode further our already thin credibility.

BN must work hard to regain lost grounds and mislaid trust. We can start doing so by unequivocally reminding people like Hamidah that there is a heavy price to pay for such transgression and that we in BN are representatives of ALL MALAYSIANS irrespective of race or religion.

Murugesan Sinnandavar

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

In a multi-racial Malaysia, I couldn't believe those words came out from the mouth of a legislator and made in an august house during a no monkey business.

I cannot imagine what would have happened if it was an Indian Sivakumar who had asked a Malay Hamidah such derogatory question.

What was she up to, we really don't know. We appreciate the Indian community for taking the insult without adverse reactions. Nonetheless, MIC President Datuk Seri S.Samy Vellu did ask BN to apologise and punish her for the remark.

My suggestion to her: quit as state assembly member. She's not fit to sit in such an august house that requires strict decorum. On a lighter vein, she can have as many snakes as she likes if she prefers a snake to an Indian man.

Sujieta
www.wantedgal.com

Anonymous said...

Dalam masyarakat majmuk seperti Malaysia ini, bukankah kenyataan ini dianggap sesuatu yang sensitif, yang mengundang kemarahan daripada pihak yang berkenaan?

Dalam masyarakat majmuk seperti Malaysia ini, bukankah kenyataan ini dianggap sesuatu yang sensitif, yang mengundang kemarahan daripada pihak yang berkenaan?

Anonymous said...

The State Assembly isn’t for racial supremacy.It is about problems, programs and budget for the state.All representatives must fight for the common good
For the state and people

What BN representative doing.She shares her narrow minded upbringing.Forgetting she lives in multi-racial country.Else she thinks her race is supreme……….

The BN should take action
There shouldn’t be any excuse for it.Only MIC amongst its component parties wanted disciplinary action
On the Perak State Assemblywoman remark………..Though she apologized.When Tajol Rosli asked her to.Otherwise she refused to do it in the assembly

BMahendran said...

and the question remains, will UMNO or BN take appropriate action against her, or will let the cage free ?

BMahendran

Premnath Agamutu said...

Putera MIC is deeply insulted, saddened and angered by the recent conduct ofBarisan Nasional’s Sungai Rapat assemblywoman, YB Hamidah Osman who used aracial slur against Indians. This act has severely upset the Malaysian Indian community.

All though YB Hamidah Osman has apologized, we believe this act should not be let off with a mere apology. Barisan Nasional must take severe action against her, as a lesson to her, and to others within and outside Barisan Nasional, that such irresponsible behaviour will not be tolerated.

We strongly urge the Perak Barisan Nasional chief Datuk Seri Mohamad Tajol Rosli Ghazali to punish Hamidah Osman with 80 hours of community service with any Indian based NGO or Charity Home in Perak for her unpatriotic behaviour in the august house. We trust this will enable her to get to know the Indian community better.

We also urge all Barisan Nasional leaders, elected representatives and members alike to unite in condemning YB Hamidah’s actions. We must uphold the Barisan Nasional principal of representing all communities equally.

Members of the public can leave their comments at:
http://puteramic.net/2008/07/01/signature/
These online signatures will be handed over to the Chairman of Barisan Nasional Perak on 15th of July 2008.

A. Premnath
Putera MIC Information Chief
www.apremnath.com

Anonymous said...

Hamidah Osman has revealed beyond a shadow of a doubt that she is the snake in our midst.

I wonder what she’ll do if she was involved in a terrible accident and need blood transfusion. Will she first make sure it is not the blood of an Indian that would flow into her vein? What if her child was gravely ill and the only Dr in attendance was an Indian, will she refuse treatment? Or if a transplant was needed? Will she make sure the organ was not harvested from an Indian?

Thank you Hamidah for revealing your true racist self. I wonder if there any Indians in Sungai Rapat? I don’t know, but one thing’s for sure if there were, she will surely not be getting their votes next time.


Regards,
Sujeet