Opposition members of parliament this morning disrupted Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's presentation of the Third Outline Perspective Plan (OPP3) which outlines the policies and direction of Malaysia for the next 10 years.

The MPs, who only received the report yesterday afternoon, requested for a postponement of its presentation so that they can go through the report thoroughly.

"We are not prepared to debate the OPP3 because we were not given enough time to read the report. Therefore we are requesting for a postponement of the debate," said PAS president and head of the opposition Fadzil Noor.

"The prime minister must respect parliamentary democracy. This report is important and cannot be treated as a ' roti canai ' project," he added.

DAP MP for Kepong Tan Seng Giaw, who requested that it be postponed to next week, said, "By convention, we are given two or three days to read the report and prepare ourselves for the debate."

There was a little commotion in the house as several MPs stood up to state their views, some waving the OPP3 report and the House's standing order book. Deputy Speaker Lim Si Cheng had quite a difficult time trying to quell the MPs' outbursts.

Lim told Fadzil that the matter had already been brought up yesterday (by DAP MP for Kota Melaka Kerk Kim Hock) and the speaker had made his decision.

"There is no provision for me to postpone the debate, nor is there any provision for me to give out the reports earlier," said Lim.

"If the opposition need time to read the report, they can participate in the debate on the second or third day," he added.

Mapen report

Kerk urged Mahathir to work together with the MPs, saying that there is no point debating the OPP3 without the Second National Economic Consultative Council (Mapen II) report which forms the basis of the former.

He also said that 10 years ago, the first Mapen report was submitted together with the OPP2.

However, Kerk's claim was disputed by Mahathir, who said that Kerk was lying as he was not involved in the earlier debates and asserted that the Mapen report was not handed together with the OPP2 report.

"However, if the opposition wants to be a rubber stamp (and endorse Kerk's lie), then so be it," Mahathir said.

At this juncture, Lim said he was certain that the report handed over to MPs yesterday was sufficient and invited Mahathir to make his presentation.

Mahathir said that the opposition MPs can postpone the debate until next month, but since he represented the majority of the people who voted for the government, he would make his presentation.

Ruling front Barisan Nasional MPs thumped their approval on the table and when PAS MP for Parit Buntar Hassan Ali stood up to protest, he was hooted by BN MPs.

BN MP for Rompin Jamaluddin Jarjis, raised standing orders 44.2 and said that the decision of the speaker of the House was final.

Mahathir then proceeded to present the OPP3 report in a 90-minute-long speech.