KUALA LUMPUR, July 16 — The placement of Datuk Seri Najib Razak in the second priority seat among Opposition MPs in the Dewan Rakyat shows the Pekan MP is still a force to be reckoned with, DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang asserted today,

Lim noted that Najib would not have been given the seat when the former prime minister was not the chief whip or Opposition leader, after leading the Barisan Nasional to its worst electoral performance in May.

"Otherwise Najib would not have a higher precedence in the parliamentary seating arrangement than the newly elected or appointed Umno leaders,” the Iskandar Puteri MP said in a statement.

Lim claimed the significance of the seating arrangement also meant none of the Opposition MPs are prepared to act in a patriotic manner and to break ranks to apologise for Najib’s poor leadership.

He also took a swipe at the Opposition MPs who staged a walkout from the lower House of Parliament this morning over the appointment of Datuk Mohd Ariff Yusof as speaker.

Calling it "déjà vu,” Lim noted the walkout was led by PAS MPS.

The protest stemmed from a earlier demanded a 14-day adjournment of the current Dewan Rakyat sitting in order to satisfy the notice period necessary for the appointment of Ariff as the Speaker.

Kota Baru MP Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan from PAS, who led the walkout, had insisted it was impossible for the letter of nomination for Ariff to have been submitted by July 2, the latest necessary to observe the 14-day notice period required by the Standing Orders.

The official letter stated that Ariff was nominated on July 2, but Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail previously said the former judge’s nomination was only sent in on July 9, later than the minimum 14-day notice period.