They call me ‘Padayappa’ in Baling, says Azeez

 

Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim says his constituents actually call him ‘Padayappa’, the Tamil film hero played by Rajnikanth who champions the cause of the poor and downtrodden.

PETALING JAYA: Baling MP Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim says he communicates in Tamil to about 5,600 of his Indian constituents who refer to him as “Padayappa”, the Tamil film hero who champions the cause of the poor and downtrodden.

Referring to the exchange in the Dewan Rakyat between him and Jelutong MP RSN Rayer over the use of the language by Azeez when trying to pacify an elephant recently, he said he was merely trying to tell the house how glorious Tamil is when the elephant actually nodded in response.

“You can go to Baling and speak to the Indian constituents. They actually call me Padayappa, referring to the benevolent Tamil movie hero played by superstar Rajnikanth. I speak in fluent Tamil, which shows I not only accept the language but also keep it in high regard,” he told FMT.

The 1991 movie, also titled Padayappa, was a global hit in India and the Indian diaspora including Malaysia, where people from all races were said to have enjoyed the theme – a superhero fighting the powerful politicians and landlords who were abusing the poor.

The shouting match broke out after the DAP MP accused BN’s Azeez of insulting the Tamil language when debating an amendment to the wildlife bill.

Azeez had said elephants understood three languages: Tamil, Thai and Burmese. He said this was based on his own experience where he helped calm down an elephant, named “Awang Bukit Hijau”, so that it could be relocated to Terengganu.

Rayer was subsequently told to leave the house for 10 minutes by Speaker Azhar Harun when he refused to sit down when ordered.

Azeez said he was sorely disappointed that Rayer only came in towards the end of his speech and butted in without understanding the context in which he was explaining the use of the language to an elephant.

“It’s really funny when a Malay is trying to explain how glorious Tamil is, so much so even an elephant bowed down to his request in the language, and he came to disrupt what I was saying without knowing what I was actually talking about,” he said.

He said he had started picking up Tamil even as a boy when living among a large Indian neighbourhood at Kampung Medan here, adding that he calls all his Indian friends “anneh”, which means big brother in Tamil.

Azeez said the clip on the exchange in Parliament is viralling and the people could see for themselves what he was saying and how the opposition MP disrupted it.

“They can view and decide for themselves,” he said. - FMT