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Vulgarity in Parliament - DAPSY urges the Prime Minister to sack Mahadzir from his current post, in order to salvage the good name and credibility of the education ministry Media Statement by Raymond Chong (Petaling Jaya, Tuesday): Yesterday in Dewan Rakyat, DAP MP for Seputih, Teresa Kok, was referred to by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Education Ministry, Datuk Mahadzir Khir, as a single woman (‘not married yet’) in a derogatory way. When Kok protested and urged Mahadzir to withdraw his words, he started making fun of her by using words like ‘insert’ (masuk) and ‘withdraw’ (tarik balik), which stink of vulgarity.  Mahadzir’s despicable conduct had not only humiliated Teresa or women MPs, but the Parliament as a whole. Further, he has shamed the Sungai Petani voters who had voted for him in the last general election!   As an official of the education ministry and a former university lecturer, Mahadzir’s conduct was unforgivable and one cannot but doubts his ability and qualification to continue in his current position.   DAPSY urges the Prime Minister to sack Mahadzir from his current post, in order to salvage the good name and credibility of the education ministry.  Such behavior by an education official has affected the confidence of the public on the standard and professionalism that was able to be provided by the Education Ministry and fear for its effect on our young generation.   This is in fact, not the first time female MPs face sexual abuses in Parliament from their male counterparts. Two years ago, BN MPs Bung Moktar Radin ( Kinabatangan) and Thong Fah Chong (Ipoh Timor) had in different occasions abused their parliamentary privilege and made untoward sexist remarks against DAP MP for Bukit Mertajam, Chong Eng and MP for Batu Gajah, Fong Po Kuan. They were never penalized by the Speakers and the recurring of such incident now is thus quite expected.   This is why the proposal to provide live telecast of the Parliament proceeding should be implemented immediately, not just to enable a more general scrutiny of MPs performance in Parliament, but to serve as a deterrence for  MPs from such behavior.     (12/11/2002) * Raymond Chong, DAPSY Assistant Organizing Secretary