It is the Dewan Rakyat and not the Dewan Negara proceedings that should be the first to be provided with a live webcast, said Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang today.

"The right and proper thing is for the Dewan Rakyat to launch off the live webcast of its parliamentary proceedings as it is the Dewan Rakyat that MPs particularly from the DAP had been consistently over the years and decades canvassing for live telecast...," he added in a statement.

The veteran politician was responding to Backbenchers Club chairperson Shahrir Abdul Samad's statement over the weekend that Dewan Negara would be the first to go live followed by the Lower House.

"This will start with the Dewan Negara as the Upper House had agreed, so the Dewan Rakyat also wants to join," the BN parliamentarian was quoted as saying.

Responding to this, Lim said it is 'inconceivable' that Dewan Rakyat would have refused to give consent for the live webcast of its proceedings if permission had been sought from the MPs.

This, he noted, raised the question as to why it was not done so that the Dewan Rakyat could be ahead of the Dewan Negara.

"Be that as it may, the consolation is that once live webcast of the Dewan Negara begins, there can be no way live webcast of Dewan Rakyat debate could be further delayed - or the elected MPs would not be able to hold their heads high as compared to the appointed senators..." he added.

Lim said it was also important that the live webcast proceedings come directly under the charge of the MPs - either with the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara each responsible for all aspects of the live webcast of their own proceedings through respective Broadcasting Committees or through a Joint Committee of both houses.

Meanwhile, the DAP website featured streaming of certain question and answer segments taken from the previous Dewan Rakyat session (March 22 - April 28)

When contacted, Lim declined to reveal on the source of the streaming. "It is more important to focus on disclosing out there," he said.

Standing orders committee

In another development, Lim said the Dewan Rakyat standing orders committee will be meeting on June 3, the first time after the general election last year.

He proposed that the committee should rush for an urgent report for adoption by the Dewan Rakyat, which included allocation of certain days in a week to deal with opposition business, allocation of twice a week for prime minister's question time and modernisation and democratisation of the standing orders.

These include Standing Order 18 - which requires 24 hours' notice for raising an emergency motion. It is suggested that a two-hour notice be allowed instead - and Standing Order 22 (2) - to propose for a shorter notice duration for a question to be asked in Parliament.

The current practice requires at least 14 working days' notice for parliamentary questions.

Lim also suggested that the committee discuss on the research and constituency staffing for MPs.

The House will meet on June 20.