PARLIAMENT BN and Pakatan Rakyat do not look like they see eye-to-eye on a majority of issues during a regular Parliament sitting.

The heckling and name calling from both sides keep both sides on their toes, and a surprise or two is thrown every now and then, until the sitting for the day concludes.

But when Pakatan boycotted the Parliament en masse today, leaving 89 empty seats, the BN politicians took the opportunity to extensively criticise their absent opponents, and then continue with prolonged talks on grassroots issues.

Shahrir Abdul Samad ( left ), the veteran BN lawmaker from Johor Bahru, spoke for more than three hours after Question Time ended, after he was given the opportunity to debate the King's speech.

Ocassionally interjected by fellow colleagues who agree with him on all the points he raised, BN politicians made sure there was no strain or arguments in the entire proceedings of the day.

Shahrir went on to speak about low-cost housing, the advantages of the goods and services tax (GST), and the advantages of the economy.

Nevertheless, he was often interjected by his colleagues from Johor, such as Azalina Othman (BN-Pengerang) and Nur Jazlan Mohamed (BN-Pulai) who agreed with him and added snippets to attack the opposition.

On a regular day, a parliamentarian would only be given 30 to 45 minutes at the most to debate on the Royal Address, in order to speed up proceedings. Today there were no such restrictions in the BN-dominated house.

A similar pattern emerged when Norah Abdul Rahman (BN-Tanjong Manis) debated for one hour, interjected only by her Sarawak colleagues, while speaking about access roads in the East Malaysian state.

Chance to query reconciliation move lost

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim missed his turn to debate, while oral questions raised by the opposition bench were not answered.

Notably, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang ( right ) missed his opportunity to grill Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak on Najib’s national reconciliation programme.

Najib made a rare appearance this morning, to field questions related to his portfolio.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Shahidan Kassim later on took a jibe at Pakatan's absence while answering a question during Question Time.

"I see all these empty chairs. I hope we (BN) fill up these chairs in the next election," Shahidan said.

He went on to criticise Pakatan for not wearing the white regalia during the royal parade at the Parliament compound yesterday morning.

"There is an allocation given for these uniforms," Shahidan said, adding that is "not good" for the opposition members not to have worn what he called the "number one dress".