MCA central committee member Ti Lian Ker has dismissed Umno supreme council member Mohamed Nazri as being ‘his usual arrogant self’ in boasting that Umno can be arrogant and yet still win elections.

However, he reminded that Nazri - who is also the tourism minister - that he is only able to do so because of BN.

“He can display his arrogance today because he is still a minister, as a result of the strong foundation of BN and all its component parties. The achievements of BN are a result of the efforts of all component parties, whereby Umno is at the helm today.

“As the captain of the ship, you do not disregard the efforts of the crew or display your pompous self with no shame or humility. You don't tell your crew that I am bongkak, terer, and arrogant because I am the captain,” he said in a statement today.

Fortunately, he said, Nazri is merely the ‘assistant’ captain, or he would do well the remember the importance of teamwork and the welfare of his crew.

Ti was responding to Nazri’s comments that it is better for Umno to be a jaguh kampung (village hero) than becoming like MCA, which only has seven parliamentary seats compared to Umno’s 88 seats.

“Tell him (Ti), don't talk big if his party only has seven seats. The fact that his party could even get seven seats was due to the support of this jaguh Melayu (Malay champion) – Umno,” Nazri told Malaysiakini yesterday.

"All those who supported them (MCA) were jaguh kampung. To me, it's better to be a jaguh kampung with 88 seats than be like MCA.

“They don't even have a kampung nor can they be jaguh bandar (urban hero) as the Chinese do not support them,” he added, while challenging MCA to leave BN and show that it can win seats without the ruling coalition’s support.

This in turn was Nazri’s response to Ti’s earlier calls to Umno to abandon its style of politics.

Ti had argued that Umno’s rhetoric helps it win votes in rural constituencies, but this comes at the expense of alienating BN component parties to their urban constituents.

In response to Nazri’s latest remarks, Ti pointed out that Nazri’s challenge applied to him (Nazri) too.

“Is he prepared to stand (for election) without the BN logo? Can he be a minister if there's no BN? Will he jump ship like (former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad) by forming or joining a new party to challenge BN if he's not made a minister?” he asked.

Ti chided that although Nazri had contested under a BN ticket, the minister appeared to be friendly with DAP and its secretary-general Lim Guan Eng.

“He has kinder words for DAP and at times I wonder whether he is courting DAP […] If people like Nazri is not happy with the BN components, he can leave and join DAP of which he's seen to be more comfortable with.

“Contrary to Nazri's assertions, let's be reminded that BN's victory is the result of the work of all component parties,” he said, while affirming that MCA would remain in BN.