PARLIAMENT | The maiden debate session for the 14th Parliament got off to a farcical start with MPs shouting at each other for about an hour.

Often times, the shouts from the MPs drowned out the deputy speaker Mohd Rashid Hasnon, who failed to maintain control of the sitting.

The din only subsided when Rashid at 1pm ordered an adjournment for lunch.

The brouhaha began shortly after Johari Abdul (Harapan-Sungai Petani) tabled a motion of thanks for the Yang di-Pertuan Agong's speech yesterday.

When tabling the motion, Johari urged MPs to take heed of the Agong's decree that MPs should be on their best behaviour while citing some examples from the past sessions.

"This is a strong reminder from His Majesty. We had gone through bitter experiences in the previous parliamentary session where the lawmakers slammed each other, challenged each other to a fight outside the House, invited outsiders to whack the lawmakers," he said. 

"Parliament is not a place for you to show your greatness and act like a samseng (thug)," he said. 

RSN Rayer (Harapan-Jelutong) chimed in by citing an incident in 2009 which saw then Bukit Gelugor MP Karpal Singh mobbed by a group of Umno Youth members.

Ramkarpal Singh (Harapan-Bukit Gelugor) then described the Umno Youth members who had attacked his father as "samseng", prompting howls of protest from the opposition bench and similar accusations from BN MPs.

"A wheelchair-bound MP was attacked by uncouth, uncivilised Umno Youth members and they are here today. Where is the Umno Youth chief?

"He was attacked by five to 10 Umno gangsters, I would repeat that word, gangster. I heard Umno Youth chief gave the samseng a slap on the wrist," said Ramkarpal.

Annuar Musa (BN-Ketereh) stood up and urged Ramkarpal to retract the unparliamentary word. 

Rayer then asked the deputy speaker to instruct Bung Moktar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan), who called the Jelutong MP a "samseng" to retract the word against him too. 

Bung stood up and said: "How can I retract (this)? He is indeed a samseng."

After a protracted slanging match, Rashid laid a ruling - that both Ramkarpal and Bung retract the word "samseng".

Both refused, and yet, Rashid did not take action against them. This prompted another shouting match.

Ramkarpal clarified that he was not using the word "samseng" to refer to Umno Youth, but rather its members who ambushed his late father.

On numerous occasions, the BN MPs tried to "teach" Rashid how to conduct himself while mostly ignoring orders from the deputy speaker.

Eventually, Rashid was saved by the bell when the clock struck one and called for a recess.