I've carefully read the Hansard for that terrible date , June 21. The deputy speaker seemed rather composed. There was an apparent uproar. But such levels of decibels is understandable when everybody wants a swing on a loaded subject.

What stung deeply wasn't the exchange of repartee between MIC secretary-general S Sothinathan, DAP member of parliament M Kula Segaran and Deputy Health Minister Dr Latiff Ahmad and several of the other minor role-players.

What cut painfully were the searing words from Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Aziz. It was hurled like a thunderbolt from a man gone berserk!

I could imagine the floor was riveted and stunned, even amongst the battle-hardened and seasoned campaigners. Nazri's was the lone voice recorded in those momentous seconds. And like a man who was not in possession of his senses, his words trailed and drooled.

Sothinathan broke ranks and suffered for the breach of a convention. It was a convention, an accepted habit and practice that things are just done in a particular way. But for a principle and a point of dignity, it was nothing to be ashamed, though suffer he must. Conventions are not cast in stone but this wasn't a good enough occasion to break one.

Nazri may not have broken ranks with the front bench. But, more significantly, his was the greater injustice. He broke faith with the nation. His was the convulsive paroxysm of rage from a front bench.

This is not the first or the only time Nazri lost his marbles over a race-related subject. Parliamentarians need to cultivate that dispassionate approach in their discourse and debates. It is possible to agree to differ and to continue the debate at a different forum.

Nazri's fiendish outburst and uncontrollable streak speaks volumes of the man, perhaps of his inner motivations and character. Nazri is totally unsuited for the politics of a cosmopolitan society. Whilst others suffered, Nazri is unscathed when his was the deepest, meanest and unkindest cut of all.

I think fair-minded people would support some form of discipline on this ordinary man, Nazri. And as for his unctuous hug on Kula Segaran , it seems much like a rehearsed meretricious display, quite nauseating. Frankly, I wouldn't bother to play marbles with this man.