IN what can be described as a friendly tit-for-tat retaliation, Sarawakian politician Datuk Willie Mongin has schooled pork haters who have been passing insults at swine consumers –including members of his Dayak community – as if these people would stink like how pigs smell.
Calling for a stop to such racist remarks as many pork eaters “don’t take bribes, abuse drugs or do anything weird”, the GPS lawmaker went on to compare the smell of pork to budu and belacan which according to him, “smell worse than pigs”.
“Although pigs are smelly, budu and belacan are worse. But we have never insulted (the food items),” countered the two-term Puncak Borneo MP as cited by Malaysiakini.
“We always respect each other and obey the king’s decree to live in harmony,” added Willie while debating a motion of thanks on His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia’s royal address when opening the First Meeting of the Fifth Session of the 15th Parliament on Monday (Jan 19).
For the uninitiated, budu is a delicacy made from fermented anchovies which is commonly found among the Malay community, especially in the East Coast of the peninsula.
Meanwhile, belacan is a fermented shrimp paste that produces a pungent smell. It is used in cooking by many ethnicities across Southeast Asia.
Mind your own business
In fact, Willie’s budu and belacan analogy served as a timely rebuttal to this social media post (which is no longer accessible) by one Mia Emilia who declared: “Pigs are smelly. Imagine how smelly people who consume such stinky items must be”.
Her disgusted reaction to porcine consumers was shared on Facebook by “bundle” entrepreneur D-Nick Bundle who chastised her for speaking ill of others.
He went on to add that the price of pork was not cheap and it was unnecessary for the netizen to get all high and mighty about other people’s choice of food.
“Pork is not rotten but the real rotten ones like to argue about people’s food, a reflection that your heart is rotten,” he chided.
This was when one commenter sought to be the voice of reason by pointing out that it was extremely impolite to say such things. A tolerant perspective was required for all races to prosper and live in harmony, it was correctly surmised.
“Each to their own” was the message from one commenter. Even though he is a Muslim, he never denigrated the animal nor the people who chose to consume it.
Examples of Borneo harmony were aplenty with a few pointing out that different cultures and religions existed under the same roof.
The holier-than-thou tone of the mocking also did not go down well as one commenter who had some choice words for the original poster.
Other non-plussed observers pointed out some other habits that they found more disgusting than eating pork – indulgence in corruption and drugs as mentioned by Willie.
However, with pig farming being a current hot topic, it was inevitable that the issue was raised.
Though pig farming in Selangor may be a trending issue, it is still rather sad that some still saw the need to highlight dietary differences as yet another reason to create disharmony.
This follows recent trends where other cultural practices such as alcohol consumption are demonized to drive a further wedge in society.
However, it would appear that majority of the commenters on this FB page at least has had enough. As one commenter quite succinctly concluded, pigs have nothing to do with your life. – Jan 22, 2026
