UMNOPutra Bung: Women are terrible. They're the reason for all traffic accidents !"
In his tirade against reckless drivers, the Kinabatangan MP says women drivers are ‘especially' guilty of disregarding traffic rules.
Kinabatangan MP Bung Moktar Radin today stirred the hornet's nest again as he blamed reckless drivers, "especially women drivers", for being traffic hazards.
The BN backbenchers club deputy chairperson, notorious for his "leaks every month" jibe against Fong Po Kuan (DAP-Batu Gajah) in 2007, said reckless drivers - particularly women - were a major cause of traffic accidents.
"They relax; 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," he said when debating the supplementary supply bill.
Dr Siti Mariah Mahmood (PAS-Kota Raja) was in no mood to let Bung's statement slide.
bung mokhtar parliament 080708 01"I ask that he retract his statement," she immediately interjected. "(His statement on) women drivers is too general," she added, sparking a war of words between the two.
Bung defended his statement, saying "it's true", and accused the opposition of politicising what he said a few minutes earlier.
"We are talking about accidents, do not politicise anything. I stress here, do not be a monkey... semua nak politik. Mati pun politik kah? (you politicise everything. You even want to politicise death?)" he said.
Ill-informed man with limited experience
At this point, Dzulkefly Ahmad (PAS- Kuala Selangor) interjected to ask Bung what evidence his allegation was based on, reminding Bung that his own wife and mother are both women.
Siti Mariah added that Bung made an ill-informed statement based on his own limited experience, and was being unfair to many women who took the trouble to learn how to be cautious.
However, Bung remained adamant, saying he was not being disrespectful to women but that road mishaps "definitely happen to women who just passed" their driving tests.
"Do not politicise the issue. There is no discrimination... (I am referring) only to new drivers. I urge the authorities to figure out how to pursue road safety for all parties," he said.
Abdul Rahman Dahlan (BN-Kota Belud) was the only person to stand in Bung's defence, saying the senior MP was not demeaning women.
"I sympathise with Kinabatangan... there are no negative implications (to his statement). Women are more careful, so they drive slower. There is no discrimination (against women)," he said.
Bung blames women for the bangs
KUALA LUMPUR: Umno MP Bung Mokhtar Radin has blamed women drivers for road accidents, and in the ensuing debate, described his PAS counterpart Dr Siti Mariah Mahmood as a “monkey.”
The Kinabatangan MP who is no stranger to ruffling feathers with his sexist remarks told the House that women drivers do not concentrate on the road.
“Just because they are inside a car, they think that the world is theirs, they don’t look or left,” he said, adding that when honked at, women drivers get upset.
“There are times when we honk, and they show all sorts of signs,” he said.
This prompted Siti Mariah to demand that Bung retract his remarks, stating that his statement was too general.
However, Bung was adamant that he had spoken the truth, and lashed out at the Kota Raja MP for attempting to politicise the issue.
“We are talking about accidents, don’t politicise everything, don’t be a monkey. You want to even politicise deaths,” he snapped.
At this juncture, Dzulkefly Ahmad (PAS- Kuala Selangor) came to his colleague’s aide and asked Bung what evidence he had to back his claim.
He also reminded the Umno MP that his wife and mother were women.
Bung remained unapologetic and argued that he was not being disrespectful to women but merely pointing out that accidents happened to women who had just passed their driving tests.
“Do not politicise the issue,” he repeated. “There is no discrimination… (I am referring) only to new drivers,” he said.
Coming to Bung’s defence, Abdul Rahman Dahlan (BN-Kota Belud) said that the Kinabatangan MP was not being disrespectful to women.
“I sympathise with Kinabatangan… there are no negative implications (to his statement). Women are more careful, so they drive slower. There is no discrimination (against women),” he said.
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