Pandikar, lawmakers urged to go for gender sensitivity training

Parliament Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia and all lawmakers should go for gender sensitivity training, said an opposition lawmaker.

Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh said men, especially from the BN, need to be more sensitive and refrain from making sexual innuendos.

This was after Umno deputy minister Tajuddin Abdul Rahman was not reprimanded for saying Seputeh MP Teresa Kok was a woman with a "Kok".

"If there needs to be gender sensitivity training, the speaker also has to go.

"He has to understand that (Tajuddin's remark) is an innuendo," Fuziah said

Kok's surname is phonetically similar to a slang word for the male genitalia.

Deputy speaker Ronald Kiandee yesterday ruled that Tajuddin was only referring to Kok's surname.

Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching, who was also present, said this ruling was unfair.

"Was Tajuddin refering to Kok's surname? You should ask the opinion of a woman.

"I don't think it's fair. All three of them (the speaker and his two deputies) are men. Maybe we should have a woman speaker to make a decision on behalf of women," Teo said.

Fuziah and Teo were speaking at a press conference in the Parliament lobby, together with DAP's Kasthuri Patto and Alice Lau; Amanah's Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud and PKR's Nurul Izzah Anwar and Tian Chua.

Kasthuri said women MPs have been insulted time and again, and rulings such as the one made by Ronald were an easy way for MPs with "potty mouths" to get away with their remarks.

Siti Mariah hoped that women could be disassociated from such insults, while Chua said Tajuddin's remarks were not just an insult to women but to Parliament and to all Malaysians as well. - Mkini