A DAP member of parliament declined his turn to speak yesterday when the debating time was cut.

Ooi Chuan Aun of Jelutong had been waiting for his turn to take part in the debate on the King's address since Monday, but failed. He had sought tirelessly to get the speaker's attention.

Deputy Speaker Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar reduced the individual 15-minute debating time to 10 minutes, and then to five, four and three minutes owing to the long list of MPs who wanted to speak.

The winding-up of the debate by ministers was scheduled to start after the lunch break at 2.30pm.

"You can all ask the ministers for clarification during the winding-up," Wan Junaidi said to protests from MPs.
When it came to Ooi's turn, he was told by Wan Junaidi to summarise his points into two minutes.

He chose not to speak.

"It is impossible for me to condense my speech into two minutes. With the time allocated, I can't even finish the introduction of my speech."

Wan Junaidi accepted Ooi's decision.

Despite reducing the time for debate, a handful of MPs still missed the chance.

Among them were Er Teck Hwa (DAP-Bakri), John Fernandez (DAP-Seremban) and Loh Gwo Burne (PKR-Kelana Jaya).

Meanwhile, at the Parliament lobby, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Seri Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz, said he would look into ways to make sure MPs got a chance to speak.

He said he would meet the opposition leadership as well as backbenchers to work out a formula for time management as well as allowing certain representatives from each party, who are well versed in a subject, to take part in the debate.

"This way, the debate will be of higher quality and for a longer period."

He added that the details could be discussed through an informal committee involving representative of parties represented in Dewan Rakyat.