Parents claim BN MP called them 'keling'

By B Nantha Kumar - Free Malaysia Today

KUALA LUMPUR: One of the parents present at the ruckus in Parliament's open senate lounge yesterday has claimed that a Barisan Nasional MP called them “keling”.

According to DAP's Sungkai assemblyman A Sivanesan, the parent told him that one of the three BN MPs at the lobby had remarked: “Keling semua ini buat apa kat sini, bilik dah gelap ni, apa mereka mahu” (what are they doing here, the room has become dark, what do they want).

Sivanesan said the parents had come to Parliament with the hope of drawing Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s attention to the situation of numerous outstanding Indian students without scholarships.

“What transpired was embarrassing to the Indian community. The parents came to Parliament to show that they were not stupid or afraid.

“Their children have studied hard and excelled but instead of listening, we had these BN MPs humiliating and cursing them..,” he said.

Sivanesan said every year, a few hundred Indian students are “discriminated” against by the government in scholarship allocation.

He said the government should understand that the Indians were no longer interested in working as rubber tappers.

During the meeting between Pakatan Rakyat representatives and the some 100 disgruntled parents, Sivanesan said BN backbenchers Bung Mokhtar Radin (Kinatabatangan), Idris Haron (Batu) and Lenggong MP Shamsul Anuar had stormed in, and shouted: “Ini himpunan haram, keluar dari sini.’ (This is an illegal gathering. Get out!).

Motion filed against DAP MP

Sivanesan also revealed that Bung Mokhtar has filed a motion to refer DAP's Ipoh Barat MP M Kulasegaran to the Parliamentary Rights and Privileges Committee over the incident.

If found guilty, Kulasegaran could be slapped with a six-month suspension.

Contacted later, the Ipoh Barat MP said he was unperturbed by the move and took a dig at Bung Mokhtar saying, “I did things in the open. I did not marry secretly.”

This was an obvious referrence to the legal tussle surrounding Bung Mokhtar 's marriage to actress Zizie Ezette.

After days of repeatedly denying the marriage, the Kinabatangan MP admitted that he and the 31-year-old starlet are husband and wife.