KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 — Umno supreme council member Datuk Mohd Puad Zarkashi today said he is prepared to buy the painting depicting frogs and monkeys in Parliament, if the Selangor Sultan, who is its current owner, puts it up for auction.

Puad, who recently won the Rengit state seat in the Johor state elections, also offered to donate the painting to the National Museum if he were to get his hands on it.

"I am prepared to buy the ‘Parliament ape and frog painting’ (lukisan Parlimen beruk dan katak) if the Selangor Sultan one day wishes to auction it.

"If that painting is owned by me, it will not be sold again. I will gift it to the National Museum to be displayed to the public,” he said on his Facebook page.

Just two days ago, the Selangor Royal Office announced that the Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, had bought a painting that depicts Dewan Rakyat in Malaysia’s Parliament with rows of monkeys, apes and frogs sitting in the seats of MPs and intends to hang the painting in his private study room.

The Selangor Royal Office also said the Selangor Sultan intends to auction the painting in the future, with the auction proceeds to be donated to charity.

The painting depicted MPs from both sides of the Parliament as different species of primates and frogs, but not Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Seri Azhar Azizan Harun and his deputies.

"Frog” is a Malaysian euphemism for elected lawmakers who switch parties and sides, a fairly common occurrence in Malaysia which had resulted in change in power without going through the ballot box and even fresh state elections.

On April 2, law minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar was reported saying a total of 39 MPs have switched political allegiances since 2018, and that this had led to political instability with Malaysia having had three prime ministers appointed in a single parliamentary term.

The artwork purchased by the Selangor Sultan bears a resemblance with a famed oil-on-canvas painting by pseudonymous England-based street artist and political activist Banksy titled Devolved Parliament back in 2009.

Banksy’s painting, which had depicted British politicians debating in the House of Commons as chimpanzees and orangutans, sold for £9.9 million (RM54.5 million) at Sotheby’s in London ten years later.