DAP parliamentarian Fong Po Kuan is disappointed that the cabinet did not reprimand her BN counterparts Mohd Said Yusof and Bung Mokthar Radin over their sexist remarks.

"The cabinet has taken this issue lightly," she told a press conference at the Parliament lobby today.

She also expressed regret that the cabinet had asked Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil to handle the matter.

"It is very wrong for the cabinet to view this simply as a women's issue," she said.

Fong also took a swipe at Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz for "jumping the gun" and making a personal comment before a decision is made by Sharizat.

Nazri reportedly said it was not necessary for the MPs to apologise to Fong as the remarks were made during the parliamentary debates.

According to Fong, this will put undue pressure on Shahrizat, who is scheduled to meet Mohd Said and Bung at her office tomorrow morning.

Nazri also said that if the MPs had offended women in general, then it is up to them to apologise to women in general.

Commenting on this, Fong asked: "Aren't I a woman too?"

No remorse

Meanwhile, Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang, who was also present, said Shahrizat was supposed to educate cabinet ministers on the subject of gender sensitivity.

"Instead of gender-sensitising the cabinet, Shahrizat had been gender-desensitised," he added.

"It is clear that the duo had no sense of remorse or regret for their crude, vulgar, sexist gender-offensive remarks directed at Fong in Parliament last Wednesday.

"The duo were only prepared to apologise to Fong and women, as they did yesterday, if it is politically necessary for them to do so to continue as BN MPs but when they found out that the cabinet had made no such decision, they quickly retracted their apologies," he added.

Lim also accused Bung of being a 'liar' by claiming that he was provoked to make such remarks because Fong had called him binatang (animal).

The opposition leader said he could personally vouch that Fong never used that word against Bung, who is the MP for Kinabatangan.

Seputeh MP Teresa Kok urged Shahrizat to use the authority given by the cabinet to reprimand the duo and order them to apologise to Fong and women in Malaysia.

"This issue should be approached in a bipartisan manner since the remarks hurt the feelings of women and tarnished the image of BN MPs and Parliament," she told the press conference.

"It is regrettable that the BN parliamentary whip and Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak defended the pair after yesterday's cabinet meeting," she said.