PARLIAMENT IS THE SAME NO MORE

The Parliament today is no more the same as before the 12th General Elections. In the last Parliament, BN MPs could afford to play truant and doze off during parliamentary sessions. Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers and Deputy Ministers could absent themselves as they liked and let their Parliamentary Secretaries reply with half-baked answers to questions raised by the not so many opposition MPs on their behalf.

They could escape then. But now, the BN leaders and MPs are in the line of fire. They are peppered with questions - their roles as the Government are scrutinised, their policies and plans are dissected, their laws are examined, their conducts are probed, their riches are questioned, and so on.

The Parliament are no more the home of dumb MPs. They are now the clever, intellectual and shrewd ones. They put up intelligent and critical questions but sad to say, there are still those who talk and behave like monkeys in the august house

KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 (Bernama) -- The numerous questions raised by Opposition members in the Dewan Rakyat today agitated backbencher Datuk Bung Moktar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan) who asked for the rationale in allowing the questions. He was perplexed as to why the Opposition members were allowed more questions whereas the Barisan Nasional were the majority in the Dewan Rakyat.

"I want an explanation. I have been observing everyday, this is not fair. This House is not controlled by the Opposition but by the Barisan Nasional. Our numbers are more than the Opposition," said Bung Moktar.