I was watching the live telecast of the emergency session of the British parliament in relation to the phone hacking scandal in the BBC and I must say that in that two hours of relentless questioning of the British prime minister by the members of Parliament, I have actually seen more of the proceedings in the British Parliament rather the Malaysian Parliament although I am a Malaysian who has voted in three general elections.

Despite having voted in three general elections, I have yet to see any session of our Parliament being telecasted live on TV. If the British can do it why can't we!

After all we are a parliamentary democracy with a Westminster style legislature. I think it's the people's right to see how our elected representatives are performing in Parliament.

The conduct of the British MP's from both sides of the divide was most exemplary.

They were not rude to each other perhaps a bit of sarcasm but that is forgivable, no statements with racial undertones were made although there were non-white MPs who questioned the PM, the male MP's were full of respect for the female MP's (they were not patronized in any way by the male MPs), they never interrupted each other and more importantly, the speaker's role was respected i.e. his instructions were fully abided by the MP's. This is what a first world Parliament is all about.

All this was in stark contrast with our Members of Parliament, where we have heard and read about how our male MPs make patronising statements about female MP's and women in general (remember the ‘bocor' statement and controversial statements about female drivers etc), name calling ( monyet and katak ), use of racially offensive words ( keling and pendatang for e.g.), shouting in Parliament, undermining the speakers position by refusing to follow instructions and the list goes on.

In short, some have said we a notorious Parliament with some notorious MP's.

I think its time for our MP's to learn a thing or two from their British counterparts.

For a start at least please telecast each parliamentary sessions live on TV so that at least we get to see and hear the proceedings in Parliament and the depth of the issues and arguments raised.

This is the first major step in realizing a first world Parliament.