PETALING JAYA: Padang Serai MP N Surendran believes that the public should address MPs as ‘Encik’, ‘Cik’ or ‘Puan’ and not ‘YB’.
The incumbent PKR vice president said that the term ‘YB’ or ‘Yang Berhormat’ should only be used by MPs when they address one another in the legislative chamber during debates.
He added that although it has become usual practice for the public to address MPs and state assemblymen as YB, the practice was an embarrassing one.
“It is unnecessary and quite ridiculous. It also has no precedent in other Commonwealth countries,” he said.
“Regrettably, many elected representatives themselves have fallen into the meaningless habit of calling each other ‘YB’ outside parliament or the state assemblies.”
He pointed out how the term YB is “freely bandied about” on social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, as well as during public events and ceramahs.
“Most elected representatives have not taken the time to discourage the public from addressing them in this manner,” he said.
Surendran added it was also undesirable for elected representatives to be elevated above the general public through honorific titles by virtue only of being voted into office.
“It is inconsistent with the fact that elected reps are public servants and not masters of the public,” he said.
“(As such), I call upon elected representatives from both sides of the political divide to regard it as their public duty to eradicate this notorious and foolish practice, and to take immediate steps to do so.”
