KUALA LUMPUR, March 1 — Uproar in Dewan Rakyat after Perikatan Nasional's (PN) Arau lawmaker Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim compared Amanah’s Hulu Langat MP Mohd Sany Hamzan to a kera (monkey) in the jungle for interrupting his speech today.

"Last but not least, Speaker, I regret that Hulu Langat (MP) has a worse attitude than a kera in the jungle,” he said after being told by the Dewan Rakyat Sepaker Datuk Johari Abdul to close his speech.

Prior to the remark, Shahidan was claiming that he is an Islamic fanatic and defended his stance on being a fundamentalist because those qualities reflect a "good man with high tolerance towards other religions”.

"I am a fanatic of the Islamic religion, proud then now and forever. The more religious, higher tolerance (towards other religions),” he added.

Comparing his stance on Islamic fanaticism, he then said that Muslims that accept liberalism are not Islamic and problematic.

Mohd Sany then interrupted Shahidan’s speech and said that the latter should contest for PAS deputy presidency for giving such "inspirational talk” right before the monkey remark.

Mohd Sany who was displeased with the remark then urged the Speaker to instruct Shahidan to retract the statement.

He said that Shahidan as a veteran should not set a bad example for new Members of Parliament.

"Speaker... (Shahidan) uses the word monkey, it should be the old people who give an example, for a (good) example, ask to withdraw that word, Arau should give an example to us new ones,” he said.

Dewan Rakyat continued to be in pandemonium when Mohd Sany’s call was interrupted by PN’s Parit Buntar MP Mohd Misbahul Munir Masduki who got up and asked Amanah MP to change his behaviour first before the two MPs involved continued their shouting match.

The uproar continued for several minutes forcing PN’s Kuala Terengganu MP Datuk Ahmad Amzah Hashim to appeal to the Speaker to control the situation.

However, Johari responded to Ahmad Amzah’s request cynically by saying that the people were watching their behaviour.

"I want to see how many people want to shout because the people are watching, keep going, keep going, the people are watching,” he said referring to the Parliament being streamed live.

Johari then asked Shahidan if he had uttered the unparliamentary words.

"Arau, did Arau say the word unparliamentary, if Arau was really an Islamic person, he would speak the truth, so did Arau utter the word unparliamentary?” the question.

Shahidan replied that he only asked that Mohd Sany not behave like a monkey in the jungle.

* A previous version of the report incorrectly identified Mohd Sany Hamzan’s constituency.