Tuesday May 27, 2008 MYT 3:08:33 PM
Havoc in Dewan over ‘unparliamentary word’
By LEE YUK PENG

KUALA LUMPUR: N. Gobalakrishnan (PKR – Padang Serai) created “havoc” in the Dewan Rakyat Tuesday when he walked up to the Speaker to explain a Tamil word to the latter by whispering to him during a shouting match which took place during Question Time.

He made the impromptu move when Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia told the House that he could not understand the meaning of a Tamil word and would have to ask someone outside before making a ruling.

Gobalakrisnan and M. Kulasegaran (DAP – Ipoh Barat) had asked Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Idris Haron to retract a Tamil word he said, where the two claimed it was unparliamentary.

This prompted Gobalakrishan to leave his seat and walked to Pandikar Amin amidst shouts of: “Ooi, what are you trying to do? Biadap. Biadap” while Opposition Leader Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail was waving at Gobalakrishnan in an attempt to stop him.

Pandikar Amin also reminded the house, including ministers who were replying their questions, not to use unparliamentary words.

At the lobby, Gobalakrishnan maintained that he heard Idris saying a foul word but Idris said he meant “sit down” in Tamil, which he learned from an Indian friend.

Both words were close in their pronounciation.

Dr Wan Azizah said Gobalakrishnan could have written a note to send to the Speaker instead of approaching the Speaker himself.

“This is my third term here and I have never seen this before,” said Dr Wan Azizah, adding that Gobalakrishnan probably had wanted to explain the foul word to the Speaker in private but it was against parliamentary etiquette.

It’s pretty funny ,isn’t it ? To quote it , ’sit down’ in Tamil means ‘okkhare’. So, obviously what Kulasegaran and Gobalakrishnan heard was this and they thought it was not sitting down. The most close foul word to “okkhare’ would “okkereh” or “okkathe”. Which means do not fuck, or fuck around. Do not lie also could be a possible definition.

Come on man. Time for some other serious debates. Enough of ‘okkaraning’ each other. Sigh.When will our MP’s really learn.