The much floated statement that in Malaysia we have unity in diversity and that there is common sensitivity among races took a major jolt when the very people who should pinnacles of sensitivity and common values decided to hurt religious and racial sensitivities of fellow Malaysians and parliamentarians by slaughtering six cows and 10 goats in the Parliament grounds yesterday.

An act of such insensitiveness and cruelty that paraded to the country and the entire world the arrogance of those behind the organised event which was purely only for political apple-polishing.

In the past, we already had the usual abuse of parliamentary sittings, of vulgarities exchanged, of continued threats and verbal insults that challenged our minds to question our own frailties as voters - we were, after all, responsible for putting these people in Parliament.

We are now told that the slaughtering of six cows and 10 goats in the Parliament grounds were necessary to celebrate Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s marriage to Jeanne Abdullah last month.

But the pertinent question is was it politically correct to do so and in such fashion in Parliament – the highest law-making symbol of our country and a symbol of Malaysian democracy that caters for a multiracial and multi-religious quorum?

A venue where for the past 50 years, an event of such religious insensitivity never took place? Would it not have been more proper if the event could have been celebrated in pomp and fashion at the many other venues available in the country?

Again, I must humbly point out that certain quarters in the country seem to have forgotten that the issue of sensitivity works both ways. In this controversy, if one man could have made a difference, it would have been Dewan Raayat Speaker Ramli Ngah Talib.

But he, too, showed all and sundry that he was an Umno politician first when he abandoned a common sense approach and stated rather foolishly that slaughtering animals was a common practice and not unusual during dinners!

It is indeed sad that more than 1,000 people including Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, cabinet ministers and MPs from both BN and the opposition may have attended the said dinner not realising the political impact of the blunder.

For the record, this is not the first time and neither will it be the last when the sensitivities of the minority races are hurt. They will remain hurt as long as there is no apology tendered and only sheepish comments made by some fearful of a backlash from those offended.