When Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz shouted the word 'racist' no less than 41 times during heated debate in the Dewan Rakyat last month, he had two members of the House in mind.

Yesterday, he confirmed that his blistering attack on June 21 had been directed not just at opposition parliamentarian M Kula Segaran (DAP-Ipoh Barat) but also at fellow front bencher and deputy minister for natural resources and environment S Sothinathan.

The next day, Sothinathan was dramatically suspended for three months from his cabinet post for breach of Barisan Nasional (BN) discipline for arguing with deputy health minister Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad over the decision to de-recognise the Crimean State Medical University (CSMU).

"(The claim 'racist') was meant for him (Sothinathan) also, to tell him that no decision made by the Barisan Nasional is on racial basis. That's the reason he faced disciplinary action subsequently, " Mohd Nazri told malaysiakini at the Parliament lobby yesterday.

"We don't work on (the basis of) racism and I really object to that (such claims). I don't like racism... we are all Malaysians, so never ever say that we make certain decision because we hate certain ethnic groups. That's unbecoming."

Sothinathan was not available for comment yesterday.

Some opposition parliamentarians had suspected that Nazri's remarks were not directed at Kula Segaran alone, but also at Sothinathan.

'Bloody racist'

During the incident in Parliament, an infuriated Mohd Nazri had shouted 'racist' at Kula Segaran 41 times - in Malay and English - at the end of a debate over the opposition's emergency motion to debate the de-recognition of the Ukraine-based CSMU.

The Malaysian Medical Council's decision to withdraw recognition has affected about 1,400 Malaysian students, the majority of whom are Indian Malaysians.

At one point, the minister yelled "bloody racist, racist, racist... you are racist, you have got no place in this country' as he pointed at Kula Segaran. There was chaos in the House as a shouting match ensued.

Kula Segaran had contributed to the situation by quoting then education minister Musa Mohamed as allegedly saying on a visit to CSMU: "How (can) this be? Why are there so many Indians in this university?"

Mohd Nazri did not immediately stand to protest Kula Segaran's statement, but attacked him only after Abdul Latiff had crossed swords with Sothinathan.

Sothinathan had asked why one community was being single out when the problem of unrecognised medical graduates involves students from all ethnic communities in Malaysia.

Mohd Nazri, who has oversight of parliamentary affairs, immediately reported the tiff between Sothinathan and Abdul Latiff to Deputy Prime Minister and BN whip Najib Abdul Razak. A video recording of the incident was submitted to Najib to assist a decision on disciplinary action.

Apology demanded

Explaining yesterday, Mohd Nazri said he had not immediately protested Kula Segaran's statement because he had to wait until asked to read out a motion on behalf of the Prime Minister's Department.

"I took that as an opportunity to speak," he said, insisting that he stands by his 'bloody racist' remark.

"It doesn't matter because (Kula Segaran) made the 'racist' remark first."

Kula Segaran had told malaysiakini earlier that the use of 'bloody racist' was unparliamentary and that he had asked the minister to tender an apology.

He was also of the opinion that the repeated use of the word 'racist' was intended to divert attention from the dispute involving the two front benchers.

He added that Mohd Nazri had hugged him outside the MPs' lounge later, saying that each of them had a job to do.

Click here to watch a two-minute video clip of Mohd Nazri's performance in Parliament. Recommended for broadband users only.