Dewan Rakyat speaker Tun Zahir Ismail acted wrongly in rejecting attempts by three MPs to table a motion to debate the Petaling Jaya Selatan clashes in Parliament yesterday on the grounds that an hour would not be enough to debate such an issue, an opposition leader said today.

DAP chairman Lim Kit Siang said in a press statement that under Standing Order 18, the speaker could only reject an application if he is satisfied that the matter to be raised is not "definite, urgent and of public importance".

"If the speaker believed that more time was needed, then he should have called in both the leader of the house and the leader of the opposition for arrangements to be made rather than just rejecting the three MPs' attempts to table the urgent motion," he said.

The motion to debate the recent clashes was tabled by DAP MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok, Barisan Nasional MP for Tambun Husni Hanadziah and opposition leader Fadzil Noor but was rejected by Zahir in his chambers yesterday.

Zahir said that the one hour allotted for such motions would not be enough to allow the MPs to have a complete understanding of the whole situation.

Standing Order 18 allows only an hour for a debate on a motion tabled by an MP.

Lim added that the government had also not acted responsibly in failing to arrange for a special parliamentary debate on the Petaling Jaya Selatan clashes or at least to table a White Paper on it followed by a debate.

It was, however, not too late for Parliament to make amends and arrange for a special debate on the outbreak of violence, Lim said.