YOURSAY | 'Nothing wrong in saying it's a stupid 'ruling'. Calling someone stupid is different.'

Kepong MP suspended for 5 days for 'stupid ruling' comment

Vijay47: On this unhappy incident, I would stand with Dewan Rakyat speaker Azhar Azizan Harun on the marching orders he issued.

After all, like it or not, in Parliament the speaker is the class monitor, lord of all he surveys and Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng had no choice but to comply with the speaker’s directives, however unfair they might appear to be.

It is here that Lim would have been guilty - his refusal to leave the Dewan; that would have been direct insubordination.

Having said that, let us consider the primary offence - Lim’s comment on deputy speaker Azalina Othman Said’s ruling that, his unacceptable language notwithstanding, Bintulu MP Tiong King Sing had made amends by choosing one of the two options she had bestowed upon Tiong.

Much as he must have been tempted to do so, Lim did not describe Azalina as stupid, a label some of us may have merrily concurred with. He merely said the ruling was stupid.

How is saying that something stupid is stupid, stupid? Reviewing Azalina’s brilliant approach, she had asked Tiong to retract his statement or clarify it. He defiantly responded by saying that he would not withdraw his statement.

Does attributing his comment to the “voice of frontliners” miraculously make his “Health director-general (DG) Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah too scared to die” remark acceptable? If so, then Tiong could have said anything, even that yesterday was Wednesday, and still got off the hook.

It is here that you are wrong, Azhar, for being unable to distinguish between a stupid person and a stupid ruling. The fact that a ruling was made by a deputy speaker does not automatically imbibe it with wisdom Solomon would have been proud of.

I am not saying that your sending off of Lim was stupid, far from it. I am merely holding that your sentence on him was ‘deficient in intelligence’.

OrangeViper2887: I watched the Parliament session online. The deputy speaker and speaker looked angry and emotional when facing a reasonable remark in the august House.

Jelutong MP RSN Rayer of DAP raised a valid protest on the attack against the Health DG by the Bintulu MP. He was thrown out by an irate Azalina. A day later, Lim remarked “stupid decision” and was booted out by the speaker.

But the thuggish remark by the pro-Perikatan Nasional (PN) MP from Bintulu went unnoticed by both the speaker and deputy speaker. What nonsense is this?

The entire PN government political machinery has failed and it is time for Parliament to axe them. Reinstate the Pakatan Harapan government voted in by the rakyat.

Anonymous_Now: The deputy speaker acted properly in allowing Tiong to explain himself and the Dewan Rakyat speaker has acted properly in defending his deputy against these personalised attacks... is this what Malaysia has come to, that MPs on the government side cannot express their disappointment at government servants without the opposition demanding they be censured or censored? What is this nonsense?

This overrated DG has made himself such a spectacle that he has become a problem even in the democratic forum of the Dewan. The opposition has one vote less against the Budget... the DG should resign immediately if he has any integrity.

Aida: @Anonymous_Now, expressing disappointment and calling someone a coward and for being afraid to die are two completely different things.

GoldenFish9805: Lim, I voted for you twice - in 2008 and 2013. I would have voted for you again if you had remained in Segambut for GE14. Anyway, I voted for the candidate who took your place.

Your actions today and also of your colleagues yesterday deeply disappointed me. My faith in a Malaysia that is kind and inclusive is ruined.

Lipdah: @GoldenFish9805, what nonsense. There is nothing wrong in saying that it is a “stupid ruling”. Calling someone stupid is different. But then you don't know the difference.

Doc: I think the reason the DAP MPs are standing up for Noor Hisham in Parliament is due to professional courtesy.

DAP MPs are all highly educated professionals, unlike the PN politicians who are mostly ‘sekolah rendah’ (primary school), ‘sekolah pondok’ (religious school) educated or the ‘buy PhD online’ types.

I guess DAP sees the DG as someone that shares their same professional calibre, educated, and an expert in his field, thus the need to defend his integrity.

Rod of Justice 2020: Why is the word stupid so sensitive? A five-day suspension is certainly too excessive. This is victimising dissent.

The best medicine to cure such sickness of the unjust is to reduce the salary of all PN MPs by 20 percent and all their perks by 50 percent. No need to deduct from Harapan and other MPs; for most of them are already quite slim, with their belt already tightened by a few inches.

The money saved can be used to feed those who are unemployed or have lost their jobs.

The Determinator: Lim, can’t you use other words? Surely you are educated enough to think of other ways. So instead of ‘stupid’, use ‘lacks intelligence’.

This kind of nonsense will alienate some voters.

Hang Babeuf: Can modify "stupid" to read as "irrational" or "ill-conceived". An acceptable amendment?

In parliamentary language, you cannot call somebody a "liar". But to suggest that they or their ruling or words may be stupid seems not so awful an offence.

Ace: As they always say, "the truth hurts". And was this action due to the fact that this truth (i.e. acting stupid) hurts the speaker and deputy speaker very badly?

Silas Jugdip: If an offence is taken with the word "stupid", I wonder why the same punishment was not given to those insulting Noor Hisham.

Anonymous Who: Stupid is as stupid does…

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