KUALA LUMPUR: All parties have been advised to refrain from escalating the issue of a Barisan Nasional lawmaker linking the holy ash worn by DAP Bukit Jelutong MP R. S. N. Rayer on his forehead to the ashes of former communist leader Chin Peng any further.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department P. Waytha Moorthy (pix) said while Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman’s action was insulting and inappropriate, he had already retracted his statement at the Dewan Rakyat.
Waytha Moorthy also noted that Tajuddin has been suspended from Parliament for two days so all quarters should put the matter to rest.
“To link the ash with a person who is no longer alive, I think it is a deliberate insult. But he has retracted his statement right?” he said to reporters when asked to comment on the issue at Parliament lobby, here, yesterday.
“If he has retracted, I think in the spirit of Malaysia, we should just leave it. Sometimes, people say things out of excitement, especially in Parliament. They get very excited as the whole world is watching.
“If he has retracted and apologised, we just leave it lah,” he added.
Yesterday, Tajuddin had asked in the Dewan Rakyat if the holy ash worn by Rayer belonged to former Communist Party of Malaya leader Chin Peng, whose ashes was brought back into the country in September, triggering a frenzy in the Lower House.
After a long shouting match between both benches, Tajuddin eventually retracted his statement, but was still suspended by Speaker Tan Sri Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof for two days.
Kota Melaka MP Khoo Poay Tiong was similarly suspended for two days for ignoring Ariff’s instructions not to continue raising the matter.
Meanwhile, Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi also urged all quarters to accept Tajuddin’s apology with an open heart and to move on.
