Malay Proverb or Racial Slur? Posted: 29 Jun 2008 09:45 PM CDT Two days ago at the Perak State Assembly, an assemblyman named Hamidah Osman from the BN coalition asked the House Speaker of a well-known fable. It was about a snake and an Indian man, where one was asked whether to kill the Indian man first or the snake first. She however refused to take back her own words until she was told to do so by her own member. She further commented she didn't mean to hurt anyone adding, it was just a proverb which means not to twist one's words around. She claimed to be misinterpreted. She thought she was speaking at a Pasar Malam? Even a lousy and noisy Pasar Malam doesn't deserve to be desecrated like that. Her words have no place in this country. Period! Hamidah was reported as asking the Perak state assembly speaker V. Sivakumar if he "agree to disagree" with the well-known fable of whether a snake or a man from a certain community should be killed first. The response from the Speaker has been very dignified and measured. Despite requests from other Pakatan Rakyat members of the assembly for her to retract, Sivakumar let her off with just a warning. And it took Opposition leader and Barisan whip Datuk Seri Mohamad Tajol Rosli Ghazali (BN-Pengkalan Hulu) to tame her off and retract that racial slur. And she probably thought that things have quietened down for her over the weekend, especially after she issued an apology. But not for many other people, from both political divide. Dato Seri S Samy Vellu stood up and demanded that BN punish Hamidah for the thoughtless words, as reported by The Star: KUALA LUMPUR: Barisan Nasional has been urged to take disciplinary action against Sungai Rapat assemblyman Hamidah Osman for insulting the Indian community at the Perak state assembly on Friday. MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, in making the call, said the party condemned the state assemblyman’s action. “We urge the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council to take action against her,” he said in a statement here. MIC Youth CWC Member, Mr.Murugesan wrote a good article titled Snake In The House on this issue. He articulated "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! " 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. On the DAP side, both Uncle Lim and Kulasegaran have appropriately described those utterances as representing the sick mentality of BN. Lim, when opening the Buntong DAP service centre here on Sunday, said her statement showed the mentality of Barisan assemblymen. “She humiliated Indians," he said, adding that Barisan should resume full responsibility for what had happened. Ipoh Barat MP M. Kulasegaran, who also attended the Buntong function, said Indians were “aggrieved” with what had transpired at the Perak state assembly. “The MIC should be ashamed of what has happened and pull out of Barisan,” he said, adding that Hamidah’s statement was not good for nation building. Norman Fernandez of Johor DAP also has his take on this matter . Yb.Hamidah ,you are such a disgrace to the Malays ! Update 9.27PM Sunday: The Star reported that Hamidah has apologized unreservedly to the Indian community, saying she did not mean to insult them. "I've retracted my words in the state assembly. I don't see it as a big issue," she said when contacted yesterday. “It’s an old Malay proverb which simply means to not twist one’s words around. I was misinterpreted and it got out of hand,” she said. Wow. Now she is taking refuge behind a supposedly Malay proverb? What Malay proverb she is talking about. It never was a Malay proverb, Puan YB. You better check with DBP. It was a Malay racial slur that gets recycled every now and then within some Malay circles. And I am not proud of it, and I don't want my kids to know about it at all. And talking about skin and racial origin, what differentiates Sivakumar with Dato Dr Zambry Kadir, the State Assemblyman of Pangkor , mind telling me Puan YB?