A parliamentarian's proposal to rename Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang after former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was booed down by his colleagues in the House today, mainly from backbenchers.

Kamarudin Jaffar (PAS-Tumpat) said while asking a supplementary question that KLIA was not the right name for the airport as it was not located in Kuala Lumpur.

He added that in other countries, airports were named after their leaders.

"I propose that we name the airport after our former prime minister who was dedicated in developing the country and who pushed for the building of this very airport as an international gateway," he added, in an obvious reference to Mahathir.

Kamarudin's cheeky proposal was immediately met with jeers from the Barisan Nasional side of the House and opposition MPs were seen laughing in their seats.

"I think it isn't a sincere proposal," interjected Badruddin Amiruddin (BN-Jerai).

In response to Kamarudin's proposal, parliamentary secretary of the Housing and Local Government Ministry S Subramaniam said the matter was one for the Transport Ministry to decide as KLIA is under its jurisdiction.

Over the past few months, Mahathir has been on the warpath with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi over his handpicked successor's failure to continue some of his policies.

State government's decision

Earlier, Badruddin said that Malaysians should remove any references to colonial leaders, adding that the names of certain places in the country were given under "humiliating circumstances" and were black marks in the nation's history.

"Georgetown... why call it George?! Why don't we call it Tanjung? Or Bunga Tanjung, for example?

"Use Malay words... even Yap Ah Loy's name is also okay... but not western names and certainly not English names. We've to preserve our Malaysian identity," he said.

Subramaniam later responded that state governments has the power (State Government Ordinance) to change the names of roads, places and buildings.

"There is no restrictions on this. It is up to the state governments to decide," he said.

However, Subramaniam added that the names to honour personalities should preferably be for former leaders who had passed on.