After an eventful weekend with the exit of the country's two leading political figures — Opposition Leader Fadzil Noor's death and Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's shock 'resignation' announcement — the ongoing World Cup looks set to take centre stage again — if parliamentary goings-on are any indication.

In the Dewan Rakyat today, the normally humourous Mohamad Aziz (BN-Sri Gading), during question-and-answer time, assumed the role of an oracle and confidently predicted the outcome of the Brazil-Turkey semi-final tonight.

"I predict Turkey will win," he said, drawing much laughter from the other MPs although some booed him for wrongly predicting earlier that South Korea would win its semi-final against Germany.

In the other semifinal, Germany defeated South Korea 1-0 to book a berth in the final.

Mohd Ali Hassan (BN-Tebrau), while posing a supplementary question to the Finance Ministry, later took the opportunity to challenge Mohamad, although both MPs are from the same political divide.

"Sri Gading said Turkey but I say Brazil," he said, prompting deputy speaker Muhammad Abdullah to remark, "Is there some kind of betting going on?" as other MPs chortled on.

Mohd Ali quickly denied any hints of betting, but Deputy Finance Minister Chan Kong Choy added to the light banter when he said, "Brazil or Turkey, saya tetap dengan Malaysia (I'm for Malaysia)".

Opposition joins in

However, opposition MPs took the opportunity to poke fun at their Barisan Nasional counterparts.

"It's so nice to see that all our friends in the BN are ceria (happy) again after these last few days of uncertainty...," said the ever enigmatic Mahfuz Omar (PAS-Pokok Sena), referring to Mahathir's sudden announcement of resignation.

His remark seemed to strike a raw chord on the BN side. Backbenchers Club chairperson Jamaluddin Jarjis shot back at Mahfuz, telling him and his comrades to behave themselves.

"Eh, this is not baik (good) ... the opposition leader just passed away," said Jamaluddin, taking a jibe at PAS for appearing not to be mourning after the death of their highly esteemed leader.

This remark snapped the House back to status quo — it is Barisan Nasional vs Opposition again.

" Dua Perdana Menteri (two prime ministers) ... dua Perdana Menteri! " shouted PAS MPs repeatedly, insinuating that Malaysia currently has two prime ministers — Mahathir and his newly anointed successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.