Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia ticked off the opposition for taking advantage of the government while voting for the Supply Bill 2010 (Budget 2010), which was passed by a narrow margin yesterday.

parliament pandikar amin anwar ibrahim lim kit siang dap pkr pc 121108 07 Pandikar told reporters today that that it was not honourable to catch the government with "their pants down."

"The opposition should not have taken advantage of the situation when there wasn't enough BN MPs.

"It was not a gentlemanly and honourable thing to do," explained Pandikar.

Moreover, he said the Parliament was a "gentlemen's club" for both the opposition and the government to debate on issues of national interest.

Pandikar also lamented that the BN legislators should not take their parliamentary majority for granted. BN has 137 seats in the House while the opposition controls 82, with three independents.

"For the BN, they must not take it for granted... in any sitting for that matter. I sit there and take my share of the responsibility.

He said that MPs only attend Parliament when there are issues of interest to them.

"They will be there when the particular interests they want to bring about are there and if it is nothing that interests them, they will not be there," he complained.

Nazri: Give me a gun

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz also reiterated Pandikar's view and opined that the members of parliament have to take their responsibilities more seriously.

gobind suspended from parliament 160309 nazri "They (BN backbenchers) are all very important people and they have been informed to attend the Parliament.

"If they (the government) want more than that then, maybe they can give me a gun and I will place it near their (the MPs) heads.

"If they don't come then I will shoot them. That will show that I am doing my work," said Nazri sarcastically.

However, he added, last night's incident should be a lesson for all the parliamentarians as this was the second time it has happened.

"But this is more frightening because it involves the Budget Bill. So I hope this matter will awaken the MPs, especially from BN, so they seriously take their responsibility to attend the Parliament," said Nazri.

The drama began late last night when Pandikar called for block voting to pass the bill, which is crucial for the government's expenditure for next year.

With no enough BN members in the House, it took a last-ditch effort from Nazri as the chief whip to gather enough numbers to get the bill approved with a single-vote majority.

Even Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and several other ministers and deputies had to rush back to ensure the bill was passed. At the end, the bill was passed by 64 to 63 votes.

A defeat would be a major embarrassment for Najib and is seen as a vote of no confidence in the government.

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