It all started when Su Keng Siong (DAP-Ipoh Timur) accused the Barisan Nasional government of making only feeble attempts to resolve climate change issues.
He also asked why the government was still encouraging companies that produced greenhouse gases when Malaysia had made the commitment to reduce the greenhouse effect by 45 per cent.
Clearly angered by the accusations, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Wan Junaidi Wan Jaafar retorted, saying, “You are stupid. Shut up. Listen to what I want to say. You wake up daily, open the window and only see bad things.”
Wan Junaidi also pointed out that Su did not understand the meaning of “zero carbon” and proceeded to tell the Dewan that it was impossible for Malaysia to achieve zero-carbon nation status.
“Only two nations can achieve it. One is Bhutan, which has 75 per cent forest with 750,000 people. It is an isolationist nation.
“The other is Vatican City, which is only 0.45km in width and with a population of about 1,000.”
In an oral question earlier, Su had asked whether the government had plans to make Malaysia a zero-carbon nation to which Wan Junaidi explained that Malaysia could not aim to achieve that status as it was a petroleum and palm oil producing country.
“Are we going to shut down the plantations and industries (we have) to achieve it? We have no plans to achieve the status by 2030,” he said, adding that the government had however initiated carbon neutrality efforts to offset carbon release.
“If you don’t understand the term, don’t use it,” he told Su.