Top 12 WTF quotes from Malaysian MP, Bung Mokhtar

NOTE: This article was originally published in early CILISOS days of 2014. We Baru update to reflect his latest quotes in 2018. Tupasal dia punya tone beza skit. FYI, WTF stands for “WhyTheFace?” 🙂

We have a certain level of admiration for Bung Mokhtar. While he’s made headlines for his controversial quips to opposition members in parliament, he has been quite outspoken against his BN counterparts as well. It is for this that we confer him with the manliest nickname we could think of: The Bung.

We thought we’d pay homage to The Bung with an article highlighting his best moments, and the number of poops given.

We usually start these sort of articles with a biography, but our research has netted some pretty conflicting information. Sure, we only looked at Wikipedia, but that’s beside the point.

What we know for sure is that he’s a member of the Malaysian Parliament representing the constituency of Kinabatangan, Sabah since 1999. He’s also deputy chairman of the Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club, a loose coalition of Dewan Rakyat MPs in support of BN. And yes, it’s actually called the Backbencher’s Club. The term comes from the British Parliament, denoting a Member of Parliament (MP) who is not a member of the Cabinet or is otherwise part of the government through the holding of a post such as Parliamentary Secretary (Thanks again Wikipedia!).

Anyway, it’s his background information that gets a little muddled. Here are snippets of the English version of The Bung’s Wikipedia page:

Bung Mokhtar despite never finishing his university degree had made several failed attempts at running a local grocery in Sabah. His rise in politics has been predominantly attributed to having close ties with senior United Malays National Organisation officials despite the lack of education.

And here’s the Malay version:

…Bung Mokhtar dilahirkan dalam keluarga politik apabila datuk nenek serta ibu bapanya adalah penyokong kuat USNO sejak ia ditubuhkan oleh Allahyarham Tun Datu Mustapa pada awal 1960-an. … Isteri beliau ialah Datin Nor Asidah Alimudin dan artis Zizie Ezette.

Pendidikan: Ijazah Sarjana Falsafah (Analisis Polisi dan Keselamatan), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia; dan Diploma Pengajian Perniagaan, Universiti Boxton, United Kingdom.

We’re pretty sure one of the two pages has been trolled, so we tried to cross-check this with FELCRA – of which The Bung is chairman – but sorry, content is being update.

 

P.S.: In order to sharpen our grasp of the Bahasa Kebangsaan, we transcribed and translated the quotes from the Youtube recordings ourselves.

 

1. The Bung VS Indian Robbers

Exchange happens at 1:48:

While debating a bill for Yayasan Guru Tun Hussein Onn – a foundation meant to take over and merge the Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Guru and the Yayasan Guru Malaysia Berhad, The Bung was engaged in a heated verbal exchange with Kapar MP Manivannan Govin when he said:

“Ini orang, kalau tak menjadi wakil Raja, jadi perompak mungkin.”

(“If this person wasn’t elected a representative, he would be a robber”)

MP Manivannan did manage a retort, saying “Kalau saya perompak, dia bapa perompak” (If I’m a robber, he’s the father of robbers/father of a robber.”)

Poops Given: 2

Some people have taken The Bung’s statement to mean that Indians in general were born or predisposed to be robbers and there’s currently a police report lodged against him by a student in Malacca over the “racist statement”

 

2. The Bung VS Decency

Given his outspoken nature, The Bung has also on occasion been caught using less-than-polite words or gestures in public. And by public, we mean Twitter:

He maintains that he was provoked first and it was to “teach [those who insulted him] a lesson”

He was also said to have used the F-bomb in parliament, but we’ve been unable to find any video evidence of it.

What we do have, however is a video of him doing the equivalent hand gesture:

Poops Given: A lot 

We have to thank The Bung for inspiring amendments to the standing order to bar sexist remarks in parliament.

 

3. The Bung VS Fashion

Ever the champion of fashion and decency, The Bung stood up against Seputeh MP Teresa Kok over her choice of attire in parliament. Clad in a form-fitting tailored business suit offset by a playful yellow tie, The Bung attempted to get a reprimand against MP Kok for he shockingly indecent red-and-white outfit, citing

“Dia pakai tee-shirt dan tidak, apani (merujuk kepada skirt), tidak panjang. Ini menunjukkan dia tidak menghormati pakaian

(“She’s wearing a tee-shirt and not, whatisthis (referring to skirt), not long. This shows that she has no respect for clothing.”)

He argues that it was against parliamentary dress codes and that allowing this sort of behavior only encourages visiting schoolgirls to dress however they want.

In case you’re wondering how inappropriate she looked, here’s the outfit:

Poops Given: Tee Two

This fashion debacle has prompted a response from CILISOS favorite Ridhuan Tee, who said her dressing like a “Nyonya Pasar” (market auntie) would encourage others to show up in shorts or perhaps no pants at all. Here’s the original column, and a news article containing the best bits translated into English.

We think he was probably offended that Teresa Kok was accused of wearing something bearing his name (Tee-shirt).

 

4. The Bung VS Women

Watch the entire debacle or skip straight to 4:03

In an infamous incident involving The Bung and leakage, he and Jasin MP Datuk Mohd Said Yusof made a remark saying that Batu Gajah MP Fong Po Kuan (who is female)

“… bulan-bulan pun bocor juga.”

(“…leaks every month too”)

during a heated discussion on the leaks found in Dewan Rakyat despite the RM100 million allocated for renovations.

He has also in another debate blamed women for being traffic hazards, stating that

“…they think that because they are inside a car, the world is theirs. They don’t look left and right and when we honk they get angry. There are times when we honk, they show all sorts of sign language.” –  The Star, March 28th 2011

Poops Given: Hell hath no fury…

Quite understandably, many parties – women’s rights groups in particular – have asked for The Bung’s career to be flushed down the toilet (our phrase, not theirs).

He has claimed that his statements were taken out of context and politicized, and that he himself was a victim of sexual harassment since he wasn’t given the opportunity to explain his side of the story.

However, he has since apologized for the “bocor” remark and has (probably) changed his opinion on women drivers thanks to his wife.

Speaking of wife…

5. The Bung VS Marriage

As mentioned, we do think The Bung is pretty manly and so it’s no surprise that other women do as well. He has been married to his second wife, actress Zizie Ezette since 2010. This wouldn’t really be too much of an issue if it wasn’t for the minor oversight of not obtaining the consent of the Shariah court before proceeding with the marriage.

Poops Given: 3

Considering that The Bung is a parliamentary lawmaker, there were many questions about his complete flouting of the law by illegally entering a polygamous marriage.

In any case, justice was been served and he has been more than gracious about accepting his due punishment – a RM1,000 fine 

You can watch a video of a protest and his response here.

 

6. The Bung VS Karpal Singh

We aren’t giving a timestamp cause this deserves to be watched in its entirety.

If there was ever one MP who could stand up to the badassery that is The Bung, it would have been Karpal Singh. The two have exchanged numerous verbal spars over the years, most notably during the first parliamentary seating in after the 2008 elections where Karpal Singh said

“Saya harap Big Foot dari Kinabatangan tidak menganggu saya apabila saya…”

(“I hope the Bigfoot from Kinabatangan won’t disturb/interrupt me when I…”)

to which The Bung, of course, immediately interrupted him.

The Bung also shot back by saying

“If I’m a Big Foot, you’re a big monkey!”

In another incident in 2008, The Bung and Ibrahim Ali have also asked Karpal Singh to “stand up and show respect to the speaker.” Karpal Singh had been in a wheelchair since 2005 after a car accident.

Poops Given: 3.5

The wheelchair incident caused a protest from the members of Malaysians Against the Discrimination of the Disabled, or MADD, who were pretty…well, mad over the remarks made.  

At the passing of Karpal Singh, The Bung has said that while they didn’t see eye to eye, there was a mutual respect for standing up for what they believed in, and that nothing was held personal. He also mentioned that the Tiger of Jelutong was an exceptional lawyer.

 

7. The Bung VS The Internet

The action begins at 1:02:50

While debating during an emergency motion in Dewan Rakyat following the disappearance of MH370, The Bung proposed that the internet be censored in order to prevent the spreading of rumors to Chinese nationals who might threaten Malaysians “wherever they are”.

Poops Given: 0.5

Other than reassurance from Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek that the internet will not be censored for those reasons, this inadvertently led to…….

 

8. The Bung vs Sedition Critics

“Why is this group so eager to repeal the law? This means they have ill intentions to create chaos,” he argued before posing a supplementary question in Parliament today

One of the things that endears Bung to us more than anything is that his stuff is actually darn funny. In this case, you’re really not sure if he’s winking at the camera, or being serious. Either way, us, and our friends at FakeMalaysiaNews.com are laughing 🙂

Poops Given: 3 and rising

 

9. The Bung VS The Bung

Heroic call takes place at 8:54

Let’s get this straight: this is where The Bung wins.

Two days after the debate mentioned above, The Bung urged that Parliament MPS join in the search for MH370, volunteering himself.

“Kalau saya boleh cadangkan Ahli Parlimen kita semua ni, kita ikut pergi apani Lautan Hindi sama-sama kita menyaksikan macam mana mereka mencari. Saya pun menawarkan dirilah, Yang Berhormat…”

(“If I can suggest that all us Members of Parliament, we should go along to the whatisthis Indian Ocean together to witness how they search. I volunteer myself, Your Honor…”)

This isn’t the only time The Bung has out-Bunged himself though – he’s also threatened to quit politics if his constituency remains undeveloped by the next election, stating;

“I have been told by my voters to make sure the government give enough money to build roads. If not, I’m worried. […] Maybe they won’t vote for me or for BN again. I myself have decided that if the government doesn’t give my people good kampung roads, I will not contest anymore.” The Star, July 6th 2013

Yep, The Bung isn’t afraid to point out BN’s faults as well. This point brings us to…

 

10. The Bung VS BN

The Bung had in 2012 questioned the Najib administration about the monopoly that Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar al-Bukhary seemingly holds over government procurement contracts, and that this practice isn’t just unfair to other Bumiputera businesses, it’s dangerous to depend on one person to control the economy.

In the same session, he also asked for the government to look into Bank Negara’s negligence in monitoring the rise of get-rich-quick schemes in Malaysia, focusing on gold trading companies, and asked for a transparent reporting of the investigation.

In addition, The Bung has asked for the resignation of Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil over the NFC scandal. Despite statements from other ministers including Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, The Bung has stated that he would attack people from his own party for the greater good. And no, he didn’t back down from his call for resignation.

The Bung has also spoken out against the deportation of PKR Vice-President Nurul Izzah Anwar from Sabah, and exposed UMNO’s culture of asking for contracts (albeit accidentally).

Poops Given: 2.5 (but the good kind)

Compared to other user comments on articles about The Bung, this resulted in an epic win:

 

11. The Bung VS Backhanded Compliments

For all of Germany’s economic and social progress that almost anyone would speak of with pride, there remains a stigma of guilt and responsibility among the German people over that dude called Hitler. In fact, it took three generations for Germans to associate pride with their nationality and to begin confronting their World War 2 past.

So of course The Bung would congratulate Germany’s 7  -1 win against Brazil by hailing praise upon the guy whose legacy caused all this to begin with.

Actually, we aren’t sure if he was congratulating Germany or taking a stab at them. Or if he was making a joke.

Or if he found certain inspiration in Hitler’s escape to Brazil to search for buried treasure (after being tipped off by the Vatican!) with his black girlfriend.

Sh*ts Given: 7 – 1

The Bung’s twit brought about a flurry of criticism, yet more calls for his resignation, and had the German ambassador to Malaysia describing it as “unacceptable”

[Update – 10/07/2014]

The Bung has withdrawn his comment after a tweet by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib that he would do so. He also issued an apology of sorts on Twitter, stating:

Well….. Coming from The Bung, this is about the closest thing to an apology as we can get. Those who questioned the sincerity of his apology got this:

12. The Bung vs Fake News

“The Opposition leader says that many do not have the opportunity to work and lack a healthy diet – but I think this is fake news. There is no such thing. What I see is that our nation is blessed with abundance of food,” – Bung Mokhtar, 7 March 2018

Well, again, he’s kinda right but not really. While food in Malaysia IS blessed with affordable and abundant, UNICEF’s 2012 study claims we have about 14% of the population malnourished, and only 5 to 6% overweight. Also, Youth unemployment is on the rise, but that’s at least somewhat countered by our high-ratio of gomen servants to population.

 

So what’s the Bung really fightin?

We weren’t being sarcastic when we said we held a level of admiration for Bung Mokhtar. Where politicians are frequently being accused of toeing the line and blindly supporting their party’s actions, we have to give him credit for not being afraid to speak his mind because whether to opposition members, his own party members, or to the public, it’s evident that The Bung doesn’t give a crap.