Two months have plodded on since the March 8 polls but for the politically-minded, the issues behind Barisan Nasional’s less-than-satisfactory electoral performance are either still a “sore” or “scoring” point, depending on which ideological fence you sit on when you engage your grandstanding.

In the Dewan Rakyat, the polls issue ricochet from one MP to another during the debate on the royal address, particularly during the afternoon session when Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi (BN-Batu Pahat) held the floor. Dr Puad may have been pressing on unemployment and the global food crisis but when he fleetingly pointed out to the recent gaffes of the Pakatan Rakyat-led Perak Government, he unleashed a series of interruptions, calls for passage and points of order, to either reinforce or rebuff the Batu Pahat MP’s assertion.

Khairy Jamaludin (BN-Rembau), given way by Dr Puad, quickly launched a succinct critique on the way Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin handled the transfer of the state’s top religious officer that went against the sensibilities of the Perak royal house which has jurisdiction over such appointments. Khairy also lambasted Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor) for his ham-fisted criticism of the Royal houses, in particular reference to the Perak issue. (Karpal wasn’t inside the House when he received the honourable mention)

Khairy insisted that while the opposition love to point out that BN suffered huge losses, the fact remains that the BN won the general election on a popular majority and that was why they were still in control of the Federal government. But Khairy merely triggered a riposte from Saifudin Nasution Ismail (PKR-Machang) who persevered against the Speaker’s warnings not to deviate from the topic at hand while he invoked the Terengganu Mentri Besar crisis when Umno leaders went against the Sultan’s wishes of not wanting Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh to continue as MB.

Saifudin also offered a multi-prong reason why the BN lost badly in the polls and underscored his reasoning by urging the BN to continue with their “denial syndrome”, to the loud applause of his opposition colleagues in the House.
Interestingly, Karpal chose to speak on the issue outside the House at the lobby during a Press conference, asserting that it was the prerogative of the respective state governments to move out any of their civil servants without consulting the Royal Houses. Karpal regretted the PR’s Perak government change of decision on the transfer issue, reserving his strongest criticism at Nizar, whom he accused of “buckling and wilting” under intimidation.

Karpal’s invective, observers have since pointed out, may have bordered on sedition or breached its laws, but the fact that he stated it outside the House without parliamentary privileges strongly suggest that he is game for an early morning visit by the enforcement authorities. Later in the afternoon, Karpal’s vituperation of Nizar was expectedly and gleefully pounced by BN backbenchers as an “ominous” sign that the pressure was cracking up confidences within the opposition and that the burden of administering state governments was too much for them.

The highlight of the Pakatan Rakyat’s assault on the debate went to Opposition leader Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (PKR-Permatang Pauh) who called on the government to set up an independent commission of inquiry to probe purchase of military hardware to expose shortcomings and misappropriation of public funds. She was repeatedly interrupted by Khairy, who insisted on seeking clarifications but Dr Wan Azizah declined to give way.

But the rookie MP was caught in his enthusiasm: when he was seeking a point of order to rebuff the remarks of an opposition MP, he was asked by the Speaker to quote the section of the rule. To the amusement of other MPs, Khairy was stumped by the inquiry and gave a sheepish grin.
He soon retreated, indicating that he will find the section and raised the issue later.

When interjecting Dr Puad, Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak) made the House smile, albeit reluctantly from the BN backbenchers, when he mentioned his mentor, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, as the “Malaysia's Prime Minister-in-waiting”, while responding to a claim by Datuk Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (BN-Pasir Salak) that he was “sacked” from Umno by Anwar for unexplained reasons.

MPs and observers, mainly made up of senior secondary school students, could be forgiven if they thought the intonation of the debate resembled that of an Umno general assembly. But as Karpal ponderously pointed out, Parliament would be the “one of the dullest places on earth”, except for the occasional exchanges between MPs from the opposition and Barisan Nasional.