Deputy Prime Minister in the Prime Minister's Department M Kayveas' recent antics in Parliament is a sad reminder of how a handful of BN representatives tend to abuse and waste valuable public time in the august House. Rather than providing detailed answers to members of the opposition, he indulges in name-calling and other charades.

The term 'monkey' which he used on other MPs is more apt for him due to his present and past mischiefs. Having mysteriously inherited the party and after having slavishly waited for a number of years, he was given a seat in the last parliamentary elections.

He won because of the split in the opposition ranks. Holding on to the post of a deputy minister, he admirably performs the role of sucking up to Umno.

He calls the PPP a multi-racial party, but 95 percent of the members are those of Indian origin especially the disgruntled elements from the MIC. He claims to have hundreds of branches and a growing membership but this has hardly been verified. In the beginning, he wanted to bring in Malay members, but was warned by his former boss Dr Mahathir Mohamad not do so.

Like the IPF, PPP merely exists on the patronage granted by Umno. Umno needs these two mosquito parties - with servile leadership - merely to pressure the MIC. Thus, if the MIC steps out of line, these two parties might come in as substitutes, albeit miserable ones. Ironically, in the absence of these two parties, MIC might look terrible. The only positive aspect of the MIC is when you make a comparison with these other two parties.

Indians were infuriated when Kayveas called for the abolishment of Tamil schools. In this respect, a group of Indian-based NGOs burned his effigy in the grounds of the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in Batu Caves a few years ago. Recently, the Bar Council took action againt him for which DAP's Karpal Singh asked for his sacking from Parliament.

One wonders who is really the 'monkey' in Parliament.