“How to be friends with them?”

This was Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz's latest remark regarding his heated exchange with MCA.

Speaking to Malaysiakini, the Umno lawmaker also revealed how his decision to back MCA president Liow Tiong Lai led to a boycott in his parliamentary constituency of Padang Rengas in Perak during the 2013 general election.

Nazri said he had thrown his weight behind Liow against former president Dr Chua Soi Lek during the MCA polls.

“I knew Liow well in the cabinet and supported him.

“But Padang Rengas MCA supported Chua. So when they found out I was supporting Liow, they (the division) issued a statement to hammer me,” he added.

Apart from calling for a boycott against him in the Chinese papers, Nazri said the division also told his constituents not to vote for him.

"To date, they (Padang Rengas MCA) have not met me to say whether the boycott is still in force.

“Neither has there been any attempt by the MCA central leadership to ask Padang Rengas MCA to stop," he added.

Nazri, who has been a MP since 1995, won the Padang Rengas seat in 2013 with a 2,230 vote majority, defeating PKR's Meor Ahmad Isharra Ishak.

Regardless of this, Nazri said he had no intention of ruining MCA and had merely retaliated when attacked.

MCA leaders had lambasted the minister over his remarks concerning billionaire Robert Kuok, whom Raja Petra Kamaruddin accused of bankrolling DAP.

Nazri had challenged the 94-year-old business magnate, who is now based in Hong Kong, to contest in the coming general election and among others, described him as a “pondan” (effeminate).

Kuok and DAP have denied the allegation.

Meanwhile, Nazri said he would not refrain from hitting back if MCA continued to attack him.