‘Tekan Ubat Kuat Keluar Benda Tu’ Is Now Recorded For Posterity In Parliament Hansard
You’ve heard of the Parliament Hansard but what is it, exactly?
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Before we get to the point of this article, let us briefly explain what a Hansard is.
Back in 19th century Britain, attempts were made to record what was said in Parliament. It was a storied history which included people being jailed and parliamentary representatives being allowed to correct what they said for publication.
While there were a few publications, the one that survived, in name, to this day is that by Thomas Curson Hansard.
The British Parliament took over the publication of its debates in 1909 and while the reporting has evolved, the name remains in use in the UK and in many Commonwealth countries, including Malaysia.
‘Penyata Rasmi’ or Hansard in Malaysia
On our Parliament’s website, there is a section for the Hansard. This came about with technological advancement which means now everyone has easy access to read what was said in Parliament whenever it sits.
The records are near-verbatim which includes descriptions of laughter in the House and indications of when a representative stood up to ask questions or interject.
To illustrate this point, even when a representative doesn’t make sense, it is recorded, for posterity.
In touching about sea pollution, Langkawi MP Datuk Suhaimi Abdullah (who defeated two-time Prime Minister and world famous politician Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in GE15), said: “Saya minta Yang Berhormat Menteri fokus kepada kebersihan laut dan saya pun tidak tahu kementerian mana yang mengutip laut ini.”
We have no idea who is in charge of “kutip laut”.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, the Hansard is a written record for all to see.
On 27 June (yesterday), the Hansard bore witness to a phrase that will now forever be etched in it for posterity.
Lumut MP Nordin Ahmad Ismail who is also a retired NAVY COMMANDER (yes, the Royal Malaysian Navy and yes, a Commander), raised his concern on how easy it is to view pornographic content on social media.
To emphasise his point, he said (out loud): “Tekan ubat kuat keluar benda tu.”
Translation: If we click on (an advertisement or link) male performance enhancement drugs, that thing (pornographic content) will come out.
While easily available pornographic content on social media is a concern, especially for parents when it comes to monitoring their child’s social media use, what is interesting here is that now the Parliament Hansard has noted down that Lumut MP uttered the phrase “tekan ubat kuat“.
If anything, that just makes our Hansard more colourful. This of course isn’t the first time the records have jotted down funny exchanges.
Many years ago we had MPs slinging insults that range from bigfoot to big monkey.
In 2008, the late DAP MP Karpal Singh called Datuk Bung Moktar Radin “a bigfoot from Kinabatangan”. Bung Mokhtar then called Karpal a “big monkey” and also challenged him, who was in a wheelchair to “Stand if you dare”.
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