Chaos in Parliament after BN MP says he spoke to an elephant in Tamil

By Sharunya Raja

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26: Chaos erupted in the Dewan Rakyat after an opposition MP accused Barisan Nasional’s Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim of insulting the “Tamil” language.

The Dewan Rakyat was a little tense today when Abdul Azeez Rahim’s (BN – Baling) shared his experience of how he spoke to an elephant in Tamil which then sparked the anger of RSN Rayer (PH – Jelutong).

Azeez said that the elephant, whom he had called Awang Bukit Hijau, had emerged from the bush with a leg injury and had been sent to a village in Kedah.

He went on to say that the elephant understood three languages: Thai, Burmese, and Tamil, and that this was likely due to its interactions with humans who spoke those languages.

“Thank you for coming here, you came from the wild to our community,” the Baling MP remarked to the elephant in Tamil. It’s a dilemma for you and the people here because you come here.”

Rayer then demanded that Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Harun to order Azeez to withdraw the later’s remark as it allegedly degraded the Tamil language.

Azeez then ordered Rayer to leave the hall for 10 minutes after his instructions to the MP to calm down were ignored.