I refer to the Malaysiakini report Media boycott over Parliament access .

As a former reporter who has covered both houses of parliament, I agree with the cordoning of the lobby of the parliament to reporters to prevent the hounding of its members.

I remember that when I was a journalist and covering parliament, none of us ever did that. We only went to parliament to cover the sittings and not to hound its members for comments.

Parliamentary reporting then was strictly on the goings-on in both the houses - the Dewan Rakyat and the Dewan Negara - and there was no reporter who loitered in the lobby area seeking to interview the members of these two houses for additional comments.

The lobby of the parliament is not such a place to hound anyone; it is just a lobby space. And if there are comments that journalists seek from members of parliament, then they should do it elsewhere.

The Malaysian parliament has been turned into a 'pasar malam' where there is jostling between reporters and members of parliament.

This should not be the case and it should not be allowed to degenerate to such a level where what is said at the parliament lobby is quoted more than what is debated inside parliament..

Where in the world is a parliament treated this way? In Malaysia, it has also been used for 'street theater' by some parliamentarians who use the premises for their ‘circus acts’.

If the media had refused to entertain such childish acts before, none of them would bother to continue with their other ingenious acts.