(MY) slaughter on parliament grounds

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'Bloodshed' in Parliament - Malaysiakini.com

Yoges Palaniappan

Jul 10, 07 4:46pm

 

There was a mass slaughter on the Parliament grounds today and several

MPs saw red, both literally and figuratively, over the incident.

 

Those responsible, the Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club (BBC),

claimed that it was done with good intentions but some of their peers

begged to differ.

 

Under tents set up at the motorcycle parking zone, six cows and 10

goats were slaughtered for a dinner function tonight.

 

The dinner, scheduled to take place at the Parliament's banquet hall,

is to celebrate Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's marriage to

Jeanne Abdullah last month.

 

In the Dewan Rakyat, opposition MPs aired their disapproval over the

'bloodshed' and accused their BN counterparts of ignoring the

sensitivity of other religions.

 

" This is the first time such an incident has happened in Parliament.

Furthermore, cows are sacred to Hindus, " lamented M Kulasegaran

(DAP-Ipoh Barat).

 

However, Speaker Ramli Ngah Talib reasoned that " it (slaughtering) is

a common practice and not unusual during dinners. "

 

Following this, Fong Po Kuan (DAP-Batu Gajah) said she was shocked

when she saw the animals being brought into the Parliament grounds in

a truck.

 

" If it a common practice, will it be acceptable for other MPs to

slaughter 'other' animals here? " she asked.

 

Kulasegaran then urged the House speaker not to allow such an incident

to recur and Ramli promised to look into it.

 

BBC chief grilled

 

Meanwhile, BBC chairperson Raja Ahmad Zainuddin Raja Omar (BN-Larut)

explained that the dinner was organised with good intentions and BBC

never meant to hurt anyone.

 

" This is first time that a PM has married. In fact this is history and

we are celebrating the wedding, " he said, adding that the meat would

also be given as alms to nearby mosques.

 

" We did it with noble intentions, " he said, adding that prior approval

was obtained from Parliament officials to carry out the slaughter.

 

" We are parliamentarians. Where else can we organise the dinner if not

in Parliament? Is it wrong? This is a simple issue, I hope the media

will not make it a big issue, " he said.

 

Raja Ahmad, who appeared calm in the beginning became visibly agitated

when journalists pounded him with questions as to why the slaughtering

could not have been done elsewhere.

 

The BBC chairperson then shot back at the journalists, chiding them

for not fixing an appointment with his secretary before meeting him

and for not getting his permission to enter his office.

 

 

Slaughter happens everywhere

 

Ahmad then tried to justify the incident by saying that slaughtering

of cows and goats happened everywhere, including government offices.

 

This lead a journalist to respond: " I believe it is not so. Once they

slaughtered cattle on a school ground in Selangor but parents wrote in

to object and it was not repeated ever since. "

 

Ahmad just shook his head and refused to comment on this.

 

In a related development, BBC member K Devamany (BN-Cameron Highlands)

gave his assurance that such incidents would not happen again.

 

" I was not at the meeting when the dinner was planned, and I got to

know about it only a few days ago. Although we cannot undo what has

already been done, we can abstain from doing it in future, " he said.

 

More than 1,000 people, including Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul

Razak, cabinet ministers and MPs from both BN and the opposition, are

expected to attend the dinner tonight.

 

Parliament ended its current session today and will resume on August 22.