'Buah dada' Khairy let off the hook

Much to the chagrin of DAP MPs, the deputy speaker rejects a motion to take action against the Umno Youth chief over his remark.

UPDATED

KUALA LUMPUR: Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker has shot down the call to punish Khairy Jamaluddin (Umno-Rembau) for his “kampung buah dada” remark against Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng whose son was accused of molesting a girl.

Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said he rejected the motion, moved by Karpal Singh (DAP-Batu Gelugor), in chambers much to the chagrin of DAP lawmakers who sparked off a mudslinging fest in the House and accused the former of power abuse.

Karpal in moving the motion, submitted last Monday, said the matter was of urgent public importance as the remarks made by Khairy on micro-blogging service Twitter last Monday had brought the House into disrepute and impinged on its integrity and dignity.

Khairy, who is also the Umno Youth chief, had said “Mungkin dia (Lim) roboh Kampung Buah Pala sebab nak ganti dengan Kampung Buah Dada.” (Maybe he demolished Kampung Buah Pala because he wanted to replace it with Kampung Buah Dada.)

Lim’s 16-year-old son was accused by pro-Umno bloggers of groping a female schoolgirl’s breast. He was alleged to have used his father’s name to escape punishment but the school principle denied that the alleged incident took place.

Wan Junaidi in rejecting the motion, first said as the issue was under police investigation, it was “subjudicial” to debate on the matter. But later he said the issue was of no urgency when he was told that the subject would only be subjudice if it was in court.

Barisan Nasional MPs rose to defend Khairy and the deputy speaker at this point, said the motion was a “waste of time” and “trivial”.

Civil suit coming
Speaking at a press conference later, Karpal said this “was not the end of it” and revealed a plan to file a defamation suit against the Umno Youth chief who he blasted as a “rascal of a parliamentarian”.

It is seldom that an emergency motion moved by opposition leaders is allowed for debate despite the significance of the issue at hand and Karpal said this was another example where a matter of great significance has been dismissed easily.

“But this is not the end of it. This is just the beginning. We will use this in the general election. We will also file a defamation suit against him,” he said.

Lim, who is also DAP secretary-general, had denied the allegations and described it as “barbaric lies” made about his teenage son by “pro-Umno ferocious beasts”.

DAP claimed the picture of the purported victim used by pro-Umno bloggers was of a 21-year-old chess grandmaster Anya Sun Corke, who is studying at Wellesley College in the US.

Corke has denied ever having met or heard of the Penang CM’s son