Umno supreme council member Nazri Abdul Aziz said the views of former Wanita chief Rafidah Aziz cannot match his, because he is a duly elected party leader while she is no longer one.

"I am not angry that she is speaking up, I am only saying that she is no longer a leader, so her views cannot match my views, because I am a leader and she is not," he told Malaysiakini .

Nazri added that if Rafidah wanted to speak up she can only do so if she is representing a group or holds a position, pointing out that the former minister no longer holds any post to speak of.

"If we want to speak on behalf of a group, we must be elected by the rakyat. But if she speaks, who is she representing?" asked Nazri, stressing that nobody asked for Rafidah's opinion in the first place.

Rafidah uncouth and childish

Commenting further, Nazri alleged that Rafidah was herself acting ' kurang ajar ', or uncouth, as she continues to disrespect the party's duly elected current leadership in her public lambasts.

Indeed he labeled Rafidah's statement chastising the current batch of leaders, sniping that they were still in kindergarten when she was part of the Malay party's leadership for close to a half-century, as "childish".

"When the time comes, you must hand over to the young. The old too must then respect the kids (who are leaders). She too is being uncouth (now).

"And when the young ones act uncouth, she gets mad. When it is she herself that is acting uncouth," Nazri lamented.

Previously Nazri had shrugged off Rafidah's criticism of party president Najib Abdul Razak as being the ravings of a nobody with no clout within the party.

Both Rafidah and Nazri has been sparring words as the federal minister moved to counter the former minister's public rebuke against the leadership of party Najib.