MPs from both sides of the Dewan Rakyat engaged in a war of words as parliamentary secretary in the Prime Minister's Department Noh Omar took a dig at Hassan Ali (PAS-Parit Buntar), questioning his "intellectualism".

He found the opportunity when Ruhanie Ahmad (BN-Parit Sulong) was holding the floor to debate the 2003 budget presented by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad last Friday.

Ruhanie was then talking about intellectualism and PAS.

Noh (BN-Tanjung Karang) asked for a chance to "clarify" but instead of doing so, pointed out that Hassan was among PAS intellectuals who had belittled the Javanese language.

"Does this make him an intellectual?" Noh asked.

'Insult' to voters

Waving the Hansard as proof, Noh said Hassan had stated that Bahasa Jawa "has no nilai ilmu (knowledge value) and is a bahasa pasar".

"This is insulting to his Sungai Burung voters, the majority of whom are of Javanese descent. He said it in the House," Noh said.

The bespectacled Hassan, who is the Sungai Burung state assembly representative, looked up from his seat and grinned at Noh.

(Sungai Burung is a state seat in Noh's Tanjung Karang parliamentary constituency. Noh and Hassan had faced off in the House on previous occasions.)

Responding, Ruhanie expressed his disappointment with Hassan, saying that being part-Javanese and part-Bugis, he felt slighted by Hassan's statement on Javanese language.

"We must respect the various ethnic and sub-groupings in the country. We should not hurt their feelings," he said, as Hassan stood to defend himself.

Hassan took a jibe at Ruhanie in Javanese.

Explanation rejected

Not to be outdone, Ruhanie replied in Javanese as well and then talked about the finer points of the Javanese language in Bahasa Malaysia.

When Hassan could finally get a word in edgewise, he began criticising Noh for being "fearful" of his (Hassan's) presence in Sungai Burung.

"I don't know why he always singles me out for attention. But before he became the Kuala Selangor MP, his predecessors had won by thousands of votes but he (Noh) only won by 2,000 votes," said Hassan.

Hassan explained that he had cited the example of the Javanese language in order to express his fears over Bahasa Malaysia losing out on importance if nothing was done to promote its usage.

Ruhanie, evidently unsatisfied, remarked that it was wrong of Hassan to tell Sungai Burung voters that he is of Javanese descent, and to behave in a manner not befitting an intellectual.

His comment irked Hassan who shot back: "I never said I am a Javanese. Like you, I am part-Bugis".

The House broke into laughter as Noh seized the final word to say: "I only wanted to know if you could call Hassan an intellectual."