The much-expanded opposition bench yesterday traded shouts and insults with the much-depleted BN ranks over procedural technicalities.

Neither side was prepared to give way, to the exasperation of the hapless Speaker of the House, who could not keep order or even be heard over the shouting.

All this was aired on live television for the first time after the government allowed the first half-hour of the 90-minute daily question time to be broadcast.

Information Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek said the decision to continue with the broadcast would be reviewed.

'There may be people who want to watch a circus, but Parliament is not a circus,' he said.

Malaysia's 222-seat Parliament has been enlivened with 82 opposition MPs, quadruple the number in the last session.

The BN has 140 MPs after the March 8 general election.

Although loud shouts between the opposition and BN lawmakers are quite common, the decibel level was much higher yesterday due to the swelled ranks of the opposition. And this is set to continue in future Parliament sittings.

'It was not a good start, but I think we have to wait to see how the young MPs perform. These are the old guys out there,' said political analyst Azmi Shahrom of the University of Malaya.

He believed that the well-educated first-time MPs would raise the quality of debate when the proceedings start in earnest.

The shouting match yesterday largely involved fiery veteran MPs.

At one point, Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia said repeatedly, in vain: 'This is not a shouting match.'

Calm was eventually restored for a few minutes when Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi took the first question on measures to resolve problems such as crime and inflation.

But the shouting resumed at a louder level when the Speaker refused to allow supplementary questions to be posed to the Prime Minister.

'There is a conspiracy to silence the voice of the 82 opposition parliamentarians,' veteran opposition MP Lim Kit Siang shouted.

The Speaker struggled to keep order as the shouting continued until Datuk Seri Abdullah interjected to say he would take additional questions.

But that hardly kept the peace for long. Pandemonium erupted again when the Speaker moved to the next question.

The chaos meant that only three questions could be answered in the allocated 90 minutes, less than half the usual 10 questions under normal circumstances.

'This was one of the most cantankerous sessions in my three decades in Parliament,' said Foreign Minister Rais Yatim.

The good news was that parliamentary business resumed with order after the question time, with the debate on the motion of thanks for the royal address proceeding smoothly and with substance.

'There was no broadcast, and less uproar. The MPs need to learn to show off their substance, and the afternoon session showed that they can,' said a political observer.

carolynh@sph.com.sg