Tasuk Gelugor MP Wan Saiful Wan Jan said the opposition leader and the leaders of parties within the coalition were not able to participate meaningfully in the session in its present form.

“Only MPs called on by the Speaker can ask questions during the PMQT,” he said in a Facebook post.

“The Speaker then only allows one supplementary question, which must come from the person who asked the original question, and one additional question from the opposition.”

Wan Saiful said improvements to the PMQT were necessary.

He said the Dewan Rakyat should adopt the Westminster practice of giving the opposition leader his own slot during PMQT.

The opposition lawmaker was responding to communications and digital minister Fahmi Fadzil, who took a swipe at opposition leader Hamzah Zainudin, Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, for their absence during the PMQT session today.

A tweet posted by Fahmi on Twitter showed the PN leaders’ seats empty again this morning.

Retaliating, the Bersatu MP blasted Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s replies during PMQT, accusing the latter of frequently avoiding giving full answers and appearing not to answer questions posed.

“He is often rambling on without complete facts. There are times when we do not know which Act he is referring to. He even speaks in a confusing way.

“If the quality of the prime minister’s answers is low, people will lose interest in listening,” he said.