Shouting matches which erupted during the debate on the 2006 Budget in the Dewan Rakyat today were sparked off by none other than maverick MP Badruddin Amiruldin (BN-Jerai) who stole the limelight for the wrong reasons perhaps.

Badruddin had stood up to raise his concern on a male news reader with a private television station who wore an earring, which he described as pelik (weird).

To this, Chong Eng (DAP-Bukit Mertajam) retorted: "Don't you know that the eldest son in an Indian family will wear earrings [...] the views are varied for different cultures."

Badruddin replied: "I am talking about Muslims, I am not talking about the keling ..."

Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) immediately cited the Standing Orders and protested that the word keling was improper.

"The correct word is Indian, not keling [...] where are the MIC MPs?" he asked as Chong also joined in the fray to protest the Jerai's MP choice of word.

Badruddin, however, argued that the term keling was commonly used by the northern people to refer to Indians and he did not mean to insult the community.

He went on to say the word is widely used by people in Kedah such as in the terms keling botol and keling jual roti .

Finally, MIC MP SK Devamany (BN-Cameron Highlands) interjected and asked Badruddin: "This matter is very sensitive, why is it being played up?"

On the advice of the chair Dr Yusof Yacob, Badruddin then retracted his remark.

'Tudung' issue

Continuing his debate, the Jerai MP then raised the issue of the wearing of the tudung (head scarf).

"Why can't female Parliament staff cover up? I propose that these officers must respect the House and cover up [...] this is not a problem because they look pretty when they cover up."

At this juncture, Lim sought Badruddin's views on whether such a rule should be imposed on non-Muslims as what he claimed had happened at Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia (UIA) recently.

Badruddin merely replied and said: "This is the fasting month, I don't want to argue with people who don't understand ... people who are not fasting."

Pandemonium again ensued when DAP MPs came out in full force to ask for Badruddin to apologise for insulting those who do not fast.

Yusof immediately announced the sitting was being adjourned for lunch and ended the verbal melee.

'Uniform' poser

Earlier, Lim had revealed that a UIA law graduate Foo Yueh Jiin had been prohibited from receiving her certificate during the university's convocation ceremony recently as she had not worn a head scarf.

Foo had applied for an exemption from the dress code but it was rejected based on a rule in the convocation guidebook which stated that non-Muslim students should don the tudung too.

Chong said the same issue was raised in the House in 2003 and the reply then was that the wearing of head scarf for non-Muslims was not compulsory but advisable.

Later, when winding up the debate, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Dr Maximus Ongkili said the issue should not be seen from a religious perspective as it was a matter of "uniforms".