Opposition MPs walked out from the first session of the 10th Parliament this morning to protest against the "statutory rape" of the Constitution and the "utter contempt" shown by Barisan Nasional to Parliament and the Agong.

The walk-out occurred at 11:05am when the 193 MPs were about to begin their oath-taking. Opposition members argued that the Parliament session was summoned without the requisite minimum 14 days as stipulated in the Constitution.

The Agung issued a notice for Parliament to convene on Dec 13, seven days short of the required period. In addition, the notice was issued two days before Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad formed his new government.

"If they can breach the laws at the first sitting, we are very worried that they will continue to violate the Constitution in subsequent meetings," said new opposition leader Fadzil Noor.

"We are staging a temporary walkout as a sign of protest," Fadzil told reporters before the 44 Opposition members returned to be sworn in about one and a half hour. "It is not sabotage. It is a question of the Constitution, of principles."

DAP Seputeh MP Teresa Kok told malaysiakini that she received the notice for the convening of the Parliament on Dec 13, without the requisite minimum 14-day notice. However, she said House Speaker Mohamad Zahir Ismail claimed that he received the notice from the Agong on Dec 3.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad joined Mohamad Zahir in defending the calling of today's parliamentary session. He told the House that as caretaker prime minister, he had the right to advise the Agong and need not wait until the new government is formed. The Opposition, he said, "seems to be bringing street brawling into Parliament."

However, this assertion was disputed by Kok. "As an interim government, Mahathir has no right to advice the Agong before the Cabinet was formed," she said.

According to former opposition leader Lim Kit Siang, "the Parliament has become an international joke and laughing stock in committing statutory rape of the Constitution as its very first act today".

"No amount of explanations and excuses can exculpate the fifth-term Speaker Mohamad Zahir Ismail, the fifth-term Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, his Cabinet ministers and the Barisan Nasional MPs from the constitutional crime of showing utter contempt for the Constitution, Parliament and the Agong in persisting with the unconstitutional Parliamentary meeting today," he stressed.

Mahathir retaliated by accusing Lim, a non-MP, for being the "mastermind" behind the Opposition walk-out.