By Nur Ashikin Louis and Ling Hui
KUCHING, Nov 25: Stakan assemblyman Datuk Hamzah Brahim caught the attention of many with his personal skit when participating in the Sarawak Budget 2023 debate in the Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting today.
Just like any other assemblymen, he started off with a formal speech, reading from his prepared text, before slowly moving into an impromptu presentation.
As he began his debate, he began to incorporate local Sarawakian slang into his speech.
“It’s true that we have won two golds in a boxing competition but if you build a new hall in Stakan constituency, I am confident that we can produce 10 golds after this,” he said in jest, garnering laughs from other assemblymen.
The comment may appear as a joke but it speaks volumes of the necessary development projects that he wished to highlight in the constituency he represented.
Another unique expression that he gave was of his worries that the dead in Stakan’s cemetery might have to be buried standing because of the lack of open lands for public infrastructure development.
“Stakan covers about 100 square kilometres of land, but when you look at Stakan, there is a lot of housing, but no more government land. There is so little left. I think it’s hard even to build a cemetery.
“I’m afraid that one day, the dead will have to be buried standing because there is not enough land (for public development),” he said, urging related agencies to reject any developers’ applications to build housing.
As a first-term assemblyman, he also got confused for a moment when he was interrupted by Deputy Speaker Datuk Idris Buang whether he would give way to Tupong assemblyman Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman.
While he had given way for Fazzrudin to intercept his speech, he continued to stand up, which prompted Idris to remind him to sit down.
At one point, he was very serious in presenting his debate speech but he managed to grab a bottle of water and stop mid-sentence to have a drink, before apologising to the Deputy Speaker, simply adding a comment, “Haus (thirsty).”
At the end of his speech, Idris thanked him for his debate with a smile saying, “An interesting speech indeed.”
After a tiring week of covering the DUN sitting, his entertaining performance is very much appreciated by the media.
The DUN sitting will commence at 9am next Tuesday (Nov 29). — DayakDaily
