THE opposition set two new records of sorts in Parliament this week -- all within an hour.

First, rookie MP Gobind Singh Deo (DAP-Puchong) got thrown out. He was the first to be ejected from the new Parliament and probably the earliest, too.

In previous Parliaments, such incidents did not occur until at least half way through the house's five-year life.

In the last Parliament -- the 11th -- Gobind's stablemate M. Kulasegaran (DAP-Ipoh Barat) was given the boot during the final sitting before the house was dissolved in February.

Gobind was suspended for two days when he ignored the Speaker's instruction to follow procedures.
Less than an hour later, the entire opposition walked out after Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia ruled that Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak could make a ministerial statement.

The opposition protested, arguing that this was against the Standing Order as Najib had wanted to make some clarifications to the speech by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on the Mid-Term Review of the 9th Malaysia Plan.

"If anybody should be making changes, it should be the prime minister. After all, it is his speech. That is the convention, even in the House of Commons," Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor) said.

However, the Speaker thought otherwise and the opposition walked out, creating a new record by doing it so soon in the life of a Parliament.

The opposition may wear these events with pride, but getting ejected and walking out is not what most Malaysians had in mind when they rooted for the opposition at the last ballot.

Monday's walkout did not have any ripple effect on the proceedings, but Gobind's ejection did as some backbenchers tried to teach him a lesson for his rude behaviour towards the chair.

Gobind peeved backbenchers when he railed against the Speaker in the lobby which was aired on television and reported in the press.

On Tuesday, Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan) felt Gobind needed to be punished.

However, Pandikar Amin said there was no need for apology as Gobind had seen him in his chambers and apologised.

The matter would have ended there, except that Gobind denied he had apologised and attributed the Speaker's claim to a misunderstanding.

Bung Mokhtar raised the matter again and moved a motion to refer Gobind to the Rights and Privileges Committee but failed as deputy Speaker Datuk Ronald Kiandee ruled that he had gone about it using the wrong Standing Order.

The Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club (BNBBC) also got into the act. However, by Thursday, it appeared to have given up on its plan to refer Gobind to the committee. Its only hope of doing so would be through a ministerial motion.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz refused to be drawn in, saying he would leave it to the BN chief whip, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Although the two events dominated the talk in Parliament, its normal business continued as members jockeyed for floor time to speak on the Mid-Term Review of the 9th Malaysia Plan.

Topics of debate varied according to the background and interest of the member.

Some, like accountant Datuk Nur Jazlan (BN-Pulai), called for the Free Trade Agreement between Malaysia and the United States to be debated in the house before the government signed it, while lawyer John Fernandez (DAP-Seremban) called for the reform of marriage laws for non-Muslims.

Businessman Raime Unggi (BN-Tenom) stumped all with his call to the government to reconsider its RM1 million cash incentive to any athlete who wins a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics.

The House will continue to debate the Mid-Term Review until Tuesday. On Wednesday, the ministers will start replying to the points raised by the MPs.