Drop in quality of new Cabinet lineup, I almost miss Nazri: FIRST SITTING DRAWS BRICKBATS

VIDEOS INSERTED KUALA LUMPUR - The first sitting of the Malaysian Parliament after the most controversial and divisive-ever general election ended with many Members of Parliament feeling drained after an exhausting 3 weeks that began on June 25 and ending a day ago.

There were mixed feelings across the political divide, with BN MPs praising the session while the majority of Pakatan Rakyat MPs found an erosion in the quality of debate and discussion.

Below is a sample of the reactions from some of the Opposition lawmakers.

Clear drop in quality of Cabinet lineup - Khalid Samad, MP for Shah Alam

"Based on what I have seen, I think it is a big disappointment because I feel the lineup of Cabinet ministers, there is a very noticeable drop in standard in terms of the quality of answers that were given and the quality of the debate itself. Probably because some are new, maybe we need to give them a bit of time. But my first impression with regard to the first Parliament after the gene elections is, there has been a very marked drop in the quality of the Cabinet ministers and the debate itself."

I almost miss Nazri Aziz - Nurul Izzah, MP for Lembah Pantai

Opposition lawmaker Nurul Izzah, who is back for a second term after a hard fought victory at Lembah Pantai, also found the sitting a disappointment, marred by low quality debate from the BN side and a barely functioning Minister of Parliament.

However, there were small silver linings, such as in the establishment of a Caucus for the TPPA. "Even though the Opposition had demanded for a full-scale Parliamentary Committee, but at least a platform for bi-partisan discussion was formed," she said.

Another was the rather surprising decision by BN Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia to reject a motion from his own side to refer Rafizi Ramli, the Opposition MP for Pandan, to the Privileges committee, she added.

"I almost miss Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz because whatever it may be and post-general elections, especially the 13th GE, Malaysians want a more transparent, accountable and functioning Parliament and one of the key ingredients for a functioning Parliament is to have a Minister who can answer serious questions and provide depth and understanding to issues that affect Malaysians. Unfortunately we have a joker in lieu of a proper Minister. Yes, it can provide some comic relief, people are fasting, people are tired but at the end of the day, the august House is no laughing matter."

Pakatan has gained new strength - Tian Chua, MP for Batu

"It reflected the new strength that Pakatan Rakyat has gained. Although, we were not able to gain the majority in the House, yet we were able to force a lot of issues out and this is also reflected by Barisan Nasional recognizing that they need to deal with us. As for Shahidan, he has to face the reality there are many issues he has to come to us and discuss first, although many a time he had insisted on bulldozing through the stance of BN or the policy of BN, yet in the end he had no choice but to try to negotiate or notify us over some of his moves.

"Similarly we have seen in the the debates, Pakatan was able to put BN under the spotlight and many issue were scrutinized. It is unfortunate that the majority of the BN members including the Prime Minister himself failed to live up to the expectations of the people to improve the quality of their speech content and to give the people satisfactory answers over many of their queries and this is something that most people who observed Parliament have noticed."

Pandikar gave a lot of space, Shahidan was great - Johari Abdul, MP for Sungai Petani

"I could see quite a change. Tan Sri Pandikar (the Speaker) injected new ideas, gave us a lot of space. In terms of debate, we could feel the quality certainly improved on both sides of the divide. Of course the absence of a few jokers also helped, for example (former) Kulim Bandar Baharu (MP) Zul Noordin, Gobalakrishnan (former Padang Serai MP) and Wee Choo Keong (former Wangsa Maju MP). These were the spolilers. Their absence means a lot to us.We could bring back the decorum of the Parliament and there was a lot of substance in the talk. In fact, even though it is fasting month, I don't feel it!"

Malaysia Chronicle