No apology for Malacca sitting exchange, Norhizam claims provocation

There will be no apology from Pengkalan Batu assemblyperson Norhizam Hassan Baktee for calling an opposition assemblyperson babi (pig), saying he reacted because he was provoked.

Defending his action yesterday, Norhizam (photo, above) said he entered the Malacca State Assembly sitting quietly, but was profusely provoked by the opposition assemblypersons.

"You see, at first, when I joined the sitting, it was already chaotic but I kept quiet.

"But I was provoked, I was insulted with words such as pig, traitor, backdoor government… that got me angry," he said in a brief recorded interview uploaded on a Facebook page "aku YB ke kau YB?"

Norhizam further explained that about seven opposition assemblypersons have verbally attacked him but he only hurled the babi remark toward one person as he couldn't face them all at once.

"I said babi, babi, babi, because I was attacked by six to seven opposition representatives.

"I had to defend myself, so I only faced one person."

He was referring to Kota Laksamana assemblyperson Low Chee Leong who was heard calling Norhizam pengkhianat (traitor) during the verbal brawl yesterday.

Expressing his disappointment, Norhizam said one is born to be human, not to be labelled as pig.

"When I, as the people's representative, was labelled as such, that's the best word (babi) that I returned to the opposition YB at the time," he said.

It was a chaotic sitting yesterday, with former Malacca chief minister Idris Haron (Umno-Sungai Udang, below) getting into a shouting match with the speaker of the House, Omar Jaafar.

The argument followed Omar's rejection of a motion to vote him out from the assembly.

Several other Pakatan Harapan representatives also heated up the row.

Subsequently, Ab Rauf Yusoh was appointed as the new State Assembly Speaker.

The Malacca Harapan state government fell on March 2 when two of its assemblypersons defected to join PN, which then formed the government with 17 representatives.

The Malacca state assembly has a total of 28 seats. - Mkini