‘Leave animals out of your battle’

Lisa J. Ariffin | December 1, 2013

MBPJ councillor condemns Malay NGO that plans to present DAP parliamentarians a stray cat and dog in ongoing spat.

PETALING JAYA: A MPPJ councillor today slammed the Penang-based Malay NGO that plans to present DAP parliamentarians Jeff Ooi and Tony Pua a stray cat and dog each as tit-for-tat for their recent damning remarks against civil servants.

Anthony Thanasayan of MPPJ’s canine advisory team today condemned Malay Sons of Penang Association for “clearly abusing animals for their own battles”.

“I am shocked that whatever their arguments are, they should leave the animals out,” he told FMT.
“If they really want to take up animal issues, take it the proper way, not use the animals to serve their battles,” he added.

Anthony said NGO president Jahangir Abdul Sukkur’s call for other Malaysians to do the same to both the DAP elected representatives was “another form of spreading the wrong message about animals”.
“You’re telling the people that these animals are not important, and you can use them for what you want,” he lamented.

“It’s like also using disabled people (for your own purposes), like talking in Parliament and calling each other disabled, it is another form of that,” he added.

He explained that stray animals lead “horrible lives” on the streets, and are often subject to neglect and abuse by the public.

Anthony, who is also Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association (Petpositive) president, opined that the NGO’s call should be condemned and told them to “grow up and be more responsible”.

“If you have nothing positive to say about animals, then just leave them out,” he reiterated.
“If they really need to use animals, then use stuffed animals to carry their message,” he suggested.

“Otherwise, there is no value and message other than being insensitive.”

During a brief post-Friday prayers demonstration in George Town, Jahangir told newsmen: “We will make an appointment to meet the MPs and present the animals as gifts to them.

“We want to show them how stray cats and dogs look like,” he added.

Last week, Ooi courted controversy when he described low-ranking municipal council officers as “kucing kurap” (stray cats).

Previously Pua had described the officers of Registrar of Societies (ROS) as Umno’s running dogs, which Jahangir claimed was equivalent to “anjing kurap” (stray dogs).

Remarks by both Ooi and Pua drew flak from various parties, including from DAP.

A check during on-going Penang assembly sitting revealed many Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat lawmakers, and civil servants were upset with Ooi’s remarks.

Also read:
Stray animals as gift for DAP duo

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