Malaysians Say The Darndest Things!

Batman Will Be Out Soon, Will Malaysia’s Snakewoman Be Out?

July 4, 2008

Amid the chaos over the Anwar Ibrahim-Saiful Bukhari-Najib Razak-statutory declaration saga over the past week, a very significant event was overshadowed. In normal times (yes ladies and gentlemen, we are living in abnormal times), this event would have invited much criticism and commentary from Malaysian blogs. Although I am documenting this event exactly one week later, late is better than never because Malaysians Say The Darndest Things, right?

So anyway, let’s move on and introduce Malaysia’s own superheroine, Hamidah Osman.

Courtesy of Mob’s Crib

Hamidah Osman is the Sungai Rapat assemblywoman in the Perak State Assembly. Her crime was to stupidly utter something so blatantly racist that I still can’t believe she had dared to say it in the assembly.

According to Hamidah, there is a popular fable, or saying, that goes a little something like this:

If you were walking and pass by a snake and an Indian, which one should you kill first?

To tell you the truth, you substitute “Indian” with Chinese/Malay/American/Gypsy and it the effect is still the same. Based on this fable, she then asked Perak State Assembly Speaker V. Sivakumar whether he agreed to disagree with the fable. What a bloody loaded question, especially when Mr. Sivakumar is an Indian!

Of course, none of the media did mention how this question came up, so I don’t really understand the context of it all. But what the hell did she expect Mr. Sivakumar to answer? That he “agrees” with the fable?

And what if Mr. Sivakumar “agrees to disagree” then? Would he be disagreeing with the fable, or disagreeing with Hamidah, which would imply that she agrees with the fable? Wouldn’t that make her look more racist and stupid to the country?

These sort of statements and behavior seem especially common among BN politicians, especially those from the UMNO party. However, she should be reminded that the myth of BN as an all-powerful coalition has been shattered since March 8th 2008. Just ask Kerismuddin.

However, note the following:

1) To their credit, the Perak Opposition leader, Mohd Tajol Rosli Ghazali instructed her to retract her statement, and she retracted it (note that she initially refused to retract the statement when told to do so by V. Sivakumar)

2) To her credit, she apologized some days later for uttering the statement and also hurting sensitivities.

3) To her credit, because her first apology was not widely reported by the mainstream media (I only saw it in Malaysiakini), she repeated her apology once again.

4) To their credit, due to public anger that demanded a public apology, the Perak UMNO and BN issued an open apology to all Malaysians.

I give them credit because it is truly rare to see a sincere apology (at least that’s what I felt) for a wrong that was committed. I give them credit because instead of beating around the bush and refusing to apologize, they were accountable and took responsibility for their actions, which is also rare.

So Hamidah Osman, that was strike number 1. But this is not baseball, so another strike, and you are out. The Internet will make sure of it.

Hamidah Osman says the darndest things!

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