MPs engage in shouting match over 'sembelih' used by Guan Eng

KUALA LUMPUR - The Dewan Rakyat's atmosphere today turned chaotic after a shouting match between Datuk Che Mohamad Zulkifly (Perikatan Nasional-Besut) and Lim Guan Eng (Pakatan Harapan-Bagan).

This was following dissatisfaction over the word "slaughter" which was used by Lim, who was referring to threats to non-Muslims for allegedly going against their parties and not Islam.

Che Mohamad rose to disagree with Lim's use of the word 'slaughter', before several other MPs joined in the verbal altercation.

The situation became more intense when some government MPs started to stand up to interrupt and 'attack' Che Mohama, which seemed to deliberately ignore the use of the word "slaughter" uttered by Lim.

Their reason is that there was apprently proof of the use word in a video that went viral previously.

Before that, Lim said during the debate that generating economic growth, reducing the cost of living, and embodying fair job opportunities were among the antidotes to the poison of extremism and racism, which are very dangerous and are now practised by 'great speakers' who are completely ignorant about the economy.

"The pillar of the nation that fosters the spirit of goodwill, economy, and mutual respect between races should be emphasised, and there should never be any inciting speech or blaming non-Muslims as the cause of corruption in Malaysia as corruption knows no skin colour," he said in the Dewan Rakyat here on Thursday.

However, the atmosphere turned chaotic when the former Penang chief minister touched on the threat of slaughtering non-Muslims, which he claimed was only for fighting a political party and not Islam.

Che Mohamad, who interrupted Lim's speech, claimed that the Bagan MP was trying to mislead the House while referring to the Rules of the Meeting under item 36(12), arguing that the speech seemed to depict that Muslims would really slaughter non-Muslims, which is not true.

At that time, several government MPs intervened to say that there was video evidence of the Bagan MP’s intended speech.

Deputy Speaker Alice Lau Kiong immediately asked all MPs who were standing to sit down and calm down.

Lim then stated that there was video evidence of the statements related to the slaughter and that a police report had been made.

"I hope the police can take action against this kind of speech," he said.

Che Mohamad, who was still not satisfied, continued to stand up while explaining the difference between ‘kafir harbi’ and ‘kafir zimmi’, while claiming that the Bagan MP was confused by the interpretation of both.

Previously, an actor apologised for his statement that he wanted to 'slaughter' non-Muslims in a talk in Kemaman, Terengganu, in Nov last year.

The actor also denied making the statement and even claimed that it was edited by a certain party.

The police also confirmed that an investigation had been carried out following the allegedly racist statements and threats made through the video involving the actor, which had angered the public.