The Dewan Rakyat sitting was interrupted and has to be adjourned half an hour earlier after a lack of quorum as the Umno annual general assembly continues into its meeting.

Since early this week, the House was half-empty following the Umno meeting. Both Parliament and the Umno assembly are held simultaneously.

At about 4.55 this afternoon, Chong Eng (DAP-Bukit Mertajam) stood up and asked the House whether there was enough quorum for the sitting to proceed.

The quorum stated under the Standing Orders is 26. There are 219 members in Parliament - 199 from Barisan Nasional, 19 from the opposition and one independent.

Bell rang twice

After Deputy Speaker Dr Yusof Yacob called for the quorum and rang the bell for two minutes, the House was still short of quorum.

Yusof, who looked anxious, then instructed the bell to be rang for the second time.

However, despite a second count, only 24 MPs were present in the House - with three from the opposition and the rest from the ruling parties.

At 5.06pm, the deputy speaker announced the sitting has to be adjourned to next Monday due to lack of quorum - a situation which has never happened in recent years.

As the decision was announced, the House erupted into shouting matches between the backbenchers and opposition, blaming each other for the lack of quorum.

The backbenchers shouted: "Why some of the DAP MPs are outside?"

Fong Po Kuan (DAP-Batu Gajah) countered: "BN just want us to help in meeting the quorum."

The shouting matches continued outside the House, as the backbenchers and the opposition MPs questioned each other at the Parliament lobby.

Dr Wee Ka Siong (BN-Ayer Itam) claimed it was a "deliberate sabotage" staged by the opposition as he singled out three DAP MPs who were not in the House when the quorum was called.

He said DAP's Chong, Teresa Kok (DAP-Seputeh) and Lim Hock Seng (DAP-Bagan) were all in the Parliament lobby but they refused to enter the House when the bell was rang the second time.

Wee was especially annoyed at Chong, claiming the latter was "unprofessional and unethical" for standing up and calling for a quorum and then left the House immediately.

"I regret this dirty tactic used by the opposition. Please remember meeting the quorum is not the sole responsibility of the BN," he told reporters at the lobby.

Cannot blame Umno MPs

Tiong King Sing (BN-Bintulu) claimed he persuaded the DAP trio to enter the House when the quorum was called but they refused.

Abdul Rahim Bakri (BN-Kudat) said the opposition called for the quorum with "malicious intention".

Asked on the huge number of ruling MPs who failed to turn up today, Wee replied, "We do understand the Umno assembly is on and we can't blame them (Umno MPs)."

On the absence of the non-Umno MPs, Wee brushed aside the question and said he was not in the position to answer for them.

On the other hand, Chong and Lim explained they were in the washroom when the quorum was called.

Countering criticisms from the BN MPs, Chong said, "They have about 200 MPs and control 92 percent of the majority in the House, they cannot even have over 20 MPs to attend sitting?"

"What happen to their 'buddy system?" she asked, referring to a system introduced a few years ago among BN MPs to ensure their attendance and that quorum in Parliament is met.

Chong added that the opposition has reminded the House over the possible lack of quorum since yesterday.

Earlier today, acting BN Backbenchers Club chief Ahmad Zainuddin Omar (BN-Larut) in a press conference expressed his disappointment at some frontbenchers who failed to turn up to answer questions in the House since Tuesday.

He said a ministry - which usually consists of a minister, a deputy minister and a parliamentary secretary - should arrange at least one of them to answer question in the House instead of letting representatives of other ministries to read out the answers on their behalf.

Ahmad Zainuddin noted that although the Umno assembly is ongoing, there is no ministry with all three - minister, deputy minister or parliamentary secretary - from Umno.