“Pork hater gang” strikes back at “no pork, no power tribe”: No graft if porcine eaters don’t offer bribe

 

SARAWAKIAN lawmaker Datuk Willie Mongin has become an overnight sensation among populace of the Land of Hornbills for defending swine consumers from pork haters on two counts: (i) “while they stink, they wouldn’t smell as bad as budu/belacan” and (ii) porcine eaters “rarely engage in bribery or drug abuse”.

However, those who felt belittled/insulted by his stinging analogy have seemingly ganged up against the GPS Puncak Borneo MP on grounds that he has miscued given that nobody is preventing the “no pork, no power tribe” from pursuing their diet so long as pig farms are erected near their homes.

As both sides of the divide traded barbs – those who look up to Willie’s heroics vs those stung by the budu/belacan analogy – the latter went a step further by accusing the “pork eater tribe” of “claiming to be noble when they’re always guilty of offering bribes to the latter.

“If in Kelantan, such practice is rampant especially among timber, mining towkays who’re pork eaters … this has become part of their culture,” rebutted lawyer Asmadi Ashari.

“The argument is a bit off when he (Willie) associated it with the budu (which happens to be a delicacy in East Coast states of Kelantan and Terengganu).”

Harping on a similar argument, Terengganu state EXCO Datuk Dr Azman Ibrahim was more specific when he claimed that “Race C often gives bribes while Race M often receives bribes” – a clear-cut reference to the ethnic Chinese and Malay communities respectively – to counter Willie.

“The bottom line is, don’t deflect the issue by linking pork and corruption,” the Agriculture, Food Security and Commodities Committee chairman snubbed Willie who defended the Dayak community in a report on the Malaysiakini Facebook page.

“Corruption is a problem for all races. Race C often gives bribes while Race M often receives bribes.”

Interestingly, the PAS state assemblyman for Jabi was mocked by netizens that two wrongs don’t make a right – “If they don’t ask, we don’t give; if they don’t take, we don’t give” or simply “corruption is never a solo act but takes two to tango”.

In fact, one commenter went on to sarcastically remarked that corruption can be a “Malaysia muhibbah” affair with the “Race I entering the fray as lawyer to defend both the Race M and C (if they get caught)”.

At the end of the day, Willie whose analogy had gone viral – and would have stepped on many toes – did re-surface to allay calls for pig farms “to be erected in an unsuitable site” and more interestingly by substantiating his corruption claim statistically.

• Most number of bribe recipients (by job): Civil servants (60.6% or 2,965 from 4,896 cases)
• Most number of bribe givers (by race): Chinese (37.3% or 630 from 1,689 cases)
• Most number of bribe recipients (by race): Malays (75.4% or 3,690 from 4,896 cases) 

dd

- focus malaysia