passage of the day. (which began at 6am)

“People in Johor Baru have always been wary of AirAsia especially when they still remember how it broke its promise with such ease,” said the principled MP, who resigned his seat in 1988 to stand as an independent and was convincingly re-elected. A year later he rejoined Umno.

Earlier, during the debate, M. Manogaran (DAP-Teluk Intan) said he noticed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak doing all he can to win over Indian voters – doing walkabouts, drinking tea at Indian stalls and travelling by bus and trains.

“Maybe next Thaipusam he would even carry the kavadi,” he said.

Everyone laughed good naturedly until suddenly, Datuk Sri Mohd Zin Mohamed (BN-Sepang)realised what Manoharan had said and asked deputy speaker Datuk Ronald Kiandee for his ruling on the DAP MP’s suggestion that Najib, a Muslim, carry the kavadi.

And then all the good Muslims who had laughed looked at each other as if saying “God what have we done” and immediately stood up to shout “tarik balik, tarik balik” as loud as they could in anger as well as to atone for laughing earlier.

Manoharan, too, realised what he had done but the deputy speaker saved the day for him by insisting that the remark was made unintentionally, that it was just a careless remark. But by the time the Dewan quietened down, the Teluk Intan MP’s time was up.

-- Zainon Ahmad, "AirAsia, MAS Deal in the Limelight", TheSunDaily, 21 October 2011.