Badruddin Amiruldin

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Badruddin bin Amiruldin is a Member of Parliament in Malaysia who has had police reports filed against him for uttering racial slurs.

Yang Berhormat Dato' Seri Paduka Haji Badruddin bin Amiruldin is a Malay Malaysian politician. He was born in 1951.He is currently the Deputy Permanent Chairman of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the largest Malay political party in the country and the leader of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. Badruddin is also the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Jerai, Kedah in the lower house of Parliament, the Dewan Rakyat. He is known as one of the more outspoken Members of Parliament, having called for those who oppose the establishment of Malaysia as a theocratic Islamic state to leave the country. Badruddin has also had several police reports filed against him for uttering racial slurs.

1 Early political life
2 Rise to prominence
3 Controversial remarks
4 References

[edit] Early political life

Badruddin was not a very well-known politician in the early 1990s, and was a backbencher in Parliament as Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Yan in Kedah until his defeat in the 1999 general election to Nasharudin bin Mat Isa from PAS, losing by 182 votes. While he was the MP for Yan in 1998, he referred to Indian Malaysians as keling, which is considered a racial slur in Malaysia, but is used occasionally without malice in some states of the Malay belt such as Kedah and Kelantan. Fellow MP M. Kulasegaran of the Democratic Action Party (DAP) told Badruddin of this, and he promptly withdrew the remark.

[edit] Rise to prominence

In the 2004 general election, Badruddin ran for the new constituency of Jerai under the UMNO ticket and defeated his opponent, Che Din bin Arshad, also from PAS, with a majority of 10,405. Later that same year, he was elected as the Deputy Permanent Chairman of UMNO with 1,510 delegates voting for him.

At the assembly where he was elected, Badruddin spoke out strongly in favour of ketuanan Melayu (Malay supremacy) and the social contract, with emphasis on Article 153 of the Constitution: "Let no one from the other races ever question the rights of Malays on this land. Don't question the religion, because this is my right on this land.". He warned those who opposed such policies as the New Economic Policy, which award Malays and other indigenous Malaysians special privileges such as quotas for entry to the civil service and public education, would be stirring up a "hornet's nest". As he said this, Badruddin brandished a book on the May 13 Incident, where racial rioting led to the deaths of at least two hundred, and caused Parliament to be suspended for two years. To emphasise his meaning, Badruddin declared, "if it were disturbed, these hornets will strike and destroy the country," receiving what one observer described as "rapturous applause" from the assembly. Badruddin also urged Malaysians not to question Malaysia's status as an Islamic state, describing such questioning as "intolerable". Malaysia had earlier been declared an Islamic state by former Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad.

[edit] Controversial remarks

In April 2005, Badruddin provoked what was described by The Star, which is owned by the Malaysian Chinese Association (a component party of BN), as abusive debate akin to that of "rowdies in the school yard," which was continued the day after when Parliament resumed. Badruddin had implied DAP MP for Batu Gajah, Ipoh, Fong Po Kuan, was an example of the aggressive character of modern Malaysian women, which led to more remaining single. Badruddin asked, "How long can the Yang Berhormat's husband stand her?" Badruddin was charged by Fong with having uttered a malicious remark towards another member of the house, and eventually apologised for his remark.

In July, when the status of Malaysia as an Islamic state was being debated, Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang of the DAP argued Malaysia was clearly a secular state, and cited a 1988 decision by the Federal Court. Badruddin then angrily yelled, "Malaysia ini negara Islam, you tak suka, you keluar dari Malaysia!" ("Malaysia is an Islamic state, you don't like it, you get out of Malaysia!") Fong then cited Standing Order 36 and asked Badruddin to withdraw his remarks as hurtful and unbecoming of an MP. Deputy Speaker Lim Si Cheng asked the MPs in attendance to follow the Standing Order in accordance, but was ignored by the MPs who continued to argue loudly. The matter was brought to an end when Chow Kon Yeow, DAP Member for Tanjong moved to refer Badruddin to the Parliamentary Committee of Privileges. The motion was defeated by a voice vote.

In October, Badruddin again caused a commotion in the House when he referred to Lim as "the damned, bloody stupid old man!" He followed this up by shouting in Hokkien, a Chinese dialect used frequently in Malaysia, "Ah Pek (old man), sit down and keep quiet!" Later that month, Badruddin was condemned for again referring to Indians as keling. Badruddin had been discussing the practice of males wearing earrings, but when told by Chong Eng of the DAP that this is tradition for the eldest son in some Hindu families, Badruddin said, "I talking about Muslims, not keling."

This caused a commotion in the House, and Lim rebuked Badruddin for his comment. Badruddin refused to withdraw it and said, "This should not be a problem because I don't mean to insult by using such a word." He also said that phrases such as "keling botol" and "keling jual roti" were common in his home state, and asked, "why make a big fuss about it?" He later retracted his comment upon being ordered to do so by Deputy Speaker Datuk Yusof Yacob. MP K.Devamany was the only MP from the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), a major component party in BN, to criticise Badruddin's remarks. The Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) also condemned Badruddin's comments on its official website. Dissatisfied with the resolution of the situation, DAP labour bureau chairman A. Sivanesan, Pahang DAP deputy chairman J. Apalasamy and president of the Federal Territory Selangor Indian Muslim Front Ramli Abdullah all individually filed police reports against Badruddin.

Badruddin was not finished, and in the same month, again caused a stir in Parliament when he questioned the decision to permit Parliament staff not to wear the tudung or Malay Muslim headscarf. Nazri Aziz, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of Parliamentary Affairs, had been responding to a question from Fong, who upon noticing some non-Muslim staff wearing the tudung, asked if the dress code required it. Nazri stated that it did not, but Badruddin objected and stated "It is part of our Malaysian culture and not meant to threaten their rights. It would also show respect to the House. Moreover, it would only make them look younger and sweet looking." Nazri stressed wearing the tudung was a matter of personal choice, and argued, "We cannot force anyone to accept it."

Lim then stood to debate with Badruddin, who responded, "This is the fasting month (of Ramadhan, when Muslims must fast during the day). I don't want to argue with people who don't understand, who don't fast."

In March 2006, on the issue of Kuala Lumpur and Singapore jointly building of a new bridge to replace the existing causeway, with Kuala Lumpur insisting on a 'scenic' crooked bridge while Singapore was against any unilateral move to demolish any part of the causeway, he said Singapore was 'insolent and not very polite'.'Now they want to belittle us, last time they were part of Malaysia. Now they want to teach us.'