The battle between Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar and Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali intensified today, with the former taking to Twitter and calling the Independent MP a jaguh kampung (village hero).

NONE "He's a jaguh kampung politician in a globalised world whose time is up. He is a obstacle to 1Malaysia," said the Rembau MP on the micro-blogging website.

In an apparent reference to Ibrahim's call for his resignation, the young politician ( left ) merely said: "He's not a Rembau voter, or a member of Umno. He has no business telling me to resign."

Khairy apparently rehashed his statement after giving a press conference at a function in Kuala Kedah this morning.

In an immediate reply to Khairy's remarks, Ibrahim apparently has no qualms with the label, which often comes with a negative connotation.

"I'm feel proud to be called jaguh kampung ... at least I'm closed to nature, meaning ' barang asli' . That's why ' saya boleh menghayati perjuangan nenek moyang dulu dan kaseh pada bangsa begitu tebal serta memahami sejarah '.

" Jaguh bandar atau Oxford means nothing to me ' kalau naik dan kaya ' in the begining because of father-in-law as PM or money politics," Ibrahim retaliated in a message.

Ibrahim: I'll wallop

The fiery Pasir Mas MP was referring to Oxford-educated Khairy's father-in-law former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, as well as the previous Umno party politics in which Khairy was found guilty of money politics although he was only let off with a warning.

Ibrahim issued a warning of his own.

"I'm a jaguh kampung like a bull fighter... what come in front, (and) not right, I'll wallop," he continued in his text message.

The Malay rights Perkasa chief first trained its guns on the vocal youngster after he come out to defend his BN counterpart, MCA Youth chief Wee Ka Siong, whom Ibrahim had been accusing over the past two weeks of "questioning Malay rights and the social contract".

Wee, who is also deputy education minister, had urged the government not to scrap the 1,500 Public Service Deparment (PSD) scholarships for undergraduate studies overseas next year.

He then asked if the government was going to retain only the Mara scholarships, which are available only for bumiputera students.

"If the government is only doing away with the PSD scholarships but retains the Mara scholarships, this will not be in line with the 1Malaysia concept that the government is promoting," Wee had reportedly said.

War of words

NONE That caused Ibrahim ( right ) to lash out at Wee, calling the MCA leader "insolent" and threatening to launch a Perkasa branch in Ayer Hitam - Wee's constituency - to deny him Malay votes in the next general election.

Khairy then rose to Wee's support at a press conference yesterday, explaining that Wee was not questioning Malay rights or even suggesting that Mara scholarships be scrapped, and that Ibrahim had misunderstood the latter's intention.

"I don't understand what is wrong with the statement. It is ridiculous because Wee was not questioning the social contract. He just said that we cannot take away the scholarships," Khairy said.

Ibrahim then retorted on the same day that Khairy could not read between the lines of Wee's statements, saying that although the Umno Youth leader had an Oxford education, he had a huge ego.

"The smart cannot be taught, and the stupid cannot be advised," said the veteran politician.