Two rival political heavyweights who will be involved in a public debate in two weeks found themselves embroiled in a heated exchange in Parliament today.

Minister in Prime Minister's Department Nazri Abdul Aziz and Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang shouted at one another during the question hour in the Dewan Rakyat this morning.

Asking a supplementary question, Lim (DAP- Ipoh Timur) commented that the role of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) is to uphold human rights, and that the government should not see it as just another statutory body.

"I don't understand why the government is not willing to allow Suhakam's annual reports to be debated in Parliament," he said.

Nazri was irked by Lim's question, replying that there are hundreds of reports from government agencies and that it is impossible for all of these to be debated.

"If all the agencies have their reports debated in Parliament, then we will have a lot to debate. He (Lim) is not right to say this in the House...don't lie in the House," he said, adding that the status of the report under the current law was sufficient.

While Nazri was speaking, Lim made remarks that could not be heard in the public gallery as the microphone was not on.

However, the "war of words'' was soon brought to a halt by Deputy Speaker Lim Si Cheng.

Nazri and Lim are scheduled to debate the Internal Security Act on July 26. The debate should have held last night but was called off .

No debate on report

Earlier, Nazri had said in reply to Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor) that Suhakam's annual report was presented in the House as a paper under Standing Order 20 (1) on May 31.

However, the Standing Order does not stipulate that the paper must be debated. Nazri was reported as saying that no specific time would be allotted to debate the report.

Suhakam's annual reports and recommendations have never been debated in Parliament despite having been tabled since 2000.

In an interview with malaysiakini in May, Nazri, who oversees parliamentary affairs, said Suhakam reports are not meant to be debated in Parliament because these are not in the form of either a motion, question or bill.