The Parliament is proving to be "utterly irrelevant" as most of its members are "lazy, want an easy life and a good time in Kuala Lumpur", said DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang today.

He criticised MPs for not being prepared to put in long hours to debate grave issues such as the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), dengue epidemic, Suhakam reports, educational issues and economic impact of the US-led war o­n Iraq.

Lim's statement was in response to the '10-minute per MP' rule imposed by Deputy Speaker Lim Si Cheng yesterday for the debate o­n the Supplementary Supply Bill 2003 estimates totalling RM22.1 billion.

Si Cheng made the ruling when he advised Ahmad Husni (BN-Tambun) to cut short his speech as o­nly two more days have been allotted for debate o­n the bill under standing orders.

This elicited protests from MPs, particularly from the opposition.

"Standing orders should not be allowed to enslave MPs, (but to) serve and empower them," Lim said in his statement today.

Debates in 1960s

Compared with the situation during the 1960s, the ruling yesterday was an "utter disgrace" for the House, he added.

Lim was MP for more than 30 years, mostly as the Tanjong representative. He was also the longest serving Opposition Leader.

"In the early 1960s, the total annual federal budget expenditure did not even reach RM1 billion, but there would be 11 days of policy debate to approve the budgetary allocations.

(Yet) in 2003, MPs have o­nly o­ne day for the policy debate for supplementary estimates which are 22 times bigger than the federal budget decades ago," he said.

"The supplementary bill presented yesterday is the largest single supplementary budgetary request ever in the history of Malaysia. It is an utter disgrace that MPs allowed themselves to be treated so contemptuously as mere rubber stamps," said the veteran politician.

He said such standing orders should be overhauled as they are "grossly behind times" and have become a "straight-jacket obstructing MPs from discharging their parliamentary duties."

Lim urged MPs to emulate the parliamentary reforms and innovations of other Commonwealth parliaments and set up a specialist parliamentary committee to oversee each ministry.

Standing orders stand

In an immediate response, the Parliament Backbenchers Club (BBC) chairperson Mohd Zin Mohamed (photo) dismissed Lim's criticisms as unfair and irresponsible.

"How does he knows? He is not even a MP, how can he know about the attitudes of other MPs? If he relies o­n his fellow DAP MPs, it is an unfair judgment," said Mohd Zin.

He added: "I am happy and satisfied with the MP's attendance and their performance so far."

On the 10-minute rule, Mohd Zin said debate time could not be extended as it is clearly stipulated under the rules.

"Under the standing order, debate time o­n the policy speech is not more than o­ne day while at the sub-committee level it is not more than two days. In (yesterday's) case, it is up to the chair to act o­n what he thinks it should be.

"I think MPs have been given ample time to debate effectively o­n the bill and the 10-minute rule also gives other MPs a chance to speak," he added.

Mohd Zin, who is also the Shah Alam MP, took over the BBC post from Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis, now finance minister II, o­n Dec 16 last year.