No more than half of the newly elected MPs showed up for debate in Parliament House today, day three of the first sitting of the 10 th Parliament. In addition, not a single Cabinet minister turned up this morning because they had to attend the weekly Cabinet meeting.

Observers said most of the absentees were from the Barisan Nasional camp. It was reported that only six of the 28 ministers attended the parliamentary session yesterday.

DAP MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok said all the Barisan Alternatif MPs were at the sitting yesterday, with the exception of Terengganu Mentri Besar Abdul Hadi Awang and state exco member Mustafa Ali. Both of them were believed to be busy attending to the state budget, which was announced yesterday.

"BN MPs are often absent from the Parliament," she said.

Political secretary for the Opposition Leader Dr. Mohd Hatta Ramli said that BN MPs sometimes forced the House to lose its quorum by walking out. This, he said, was to stop Opposition MPs from debating certain contentious issues. Parliamentary business cannot proceed if there are fewer than 26 MPs in the House.

"Now with the increase in the number of BA MPs, they can no longer employ such tactics," he said. He added that Opposition Leader Fadzil Noor would continue to remain vigilant on the issue of "absentee MPs".

Veteran DAP MP Tan Kok Wai told malaysiakini that the low quorum in Parliament only encouraged poor attendance by BN MPs.

"The BN-dominated Parliament dares not increase the minimum MPs required for House sitting," he said. Having been in Parliament for more than 20 years, he said the House at times encountered problems in meeting the quorum of 26 MPs.

"This current sitting is only a four-day session," he said. "If the session is a few weeks long, the attendance problem would be much more worse, especially during the last week."

According to English newspaper New Straits Times , out of 193 elected MPs, only 108 was in Parliament at 10.15am yesterday, 72 at 2.30pm, and 119 at 5pm.