European parliamentarians today witnessed their Malaysian counterparts go bananas in the Dewan Rakyat after the opposition was chided for behaving like 'monkeys in a circus'.

The rebuke came from Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department M Kayveas, who lost his cool when Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timor) launched a verbal tirade against him over a question posed on the backlog of court cases.

To make matters worse, a delegation from the European Parliamentary Union was present in the House.

Fong Po Kuan (DAP-Batu Gajah) had started the ball rolling when she asked about the longest delayed court case, prompting Lim to pounce on Kayveas.

He demanded that the deputy minister answer the question after initially telling him to sit down if he did not want to.

"Yes I am answering, you listen first. There are foreigners here watching the proceedings. Lim (is behaving) like a monkey. This is embarrassing our country...just like a monkey.

"I don't understand, it has always been the same, I want to answer but (they) don't want to listen," replied an irate Kayveas, according to a Bernama report.

"I want to answer why the case was delayed but (they) don't want to listen...the delay is because of an opposition lawyer...many opposition leaders are lawyers but (their) cases are delayed because they don't show up in court," he added.

Retract statement

Opposition MPs then demanded that Kayveas retract the 'monkey' statement but the latter refused.

At this point Badruddin Amiruldin (BN-Jerai) and Raja Ahmad Zainuddin Raja Omar (BN-Larut) stood up and said that opposition MPs who cause trouble in the House be referred to the Privileges Committee.

Responding, the opposition MPs called for Kayveas to be referred to the committee as well for uttering a demeaning word.

"The Standing Order states that parliamentarians cannot utter rude words during proceedings. Are opposition parliamentarians supposed to be branded as monkeys?" asked Fong.

Kayveas then said that he did not label them as monkeys but 'behaving like monkeys'.

The European delegates witnessed the drama unfold for about 10 minutes before Speaker Ramli Ngah Talib managed to restore order.

Ramli then instructed Kayveas to retract his statement, which the latter did.