Deputy Natural Resources and Environment Minister S Sothinathan today denied challenging a female opposition parliamentarian to a fist-fight outside the Dewan Rakyat.

"No man in his right mind would ask a woman to fight with him," he stressed at a press conference at the Parliament lobby.

"I was talking about the general election," he explained further, adding that fighting with a woman is the most disgraceful thing a man could do.

Yesterday, Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timor) had accused Sothinathan of issuing the challenge to Fong Po Kuan (DAP-Batu Gajah) on Monday, while winding-up points related to his ministry on the Supply Bill 2008.

During the debate, DAP MPs had grilled Sothinathan on why MIC has become a 'slave' to Umno. This led to a heated exchange and the deputy minister - who is vice-president of MIC - issued the challenge.

Following this, Lim and other DAP MPs demanded an apology and described the incident as being "most disgraceful in setting a new Malaysian parliamentary record of a male MP challenging a female MP to a physical fight".

They also urged MIC president S Samy Vellu to direct Sothinathan to apologise.

'Cheap publicity'

At the press conference, Sothinathan clarified that in politics, the term 'fight' refers to elections and not to the exchange of blows.

He also took a swipe at the opposition leader for harping on the issue.

"I'm very surprised that a senior politician like Lim can seek such cheap publicity," he said.

According to Sothinathan, he was provoked into making the challenge after fielding questions from MPs for more than an hour.

"I was answering one question after another, trying not to leave out any questions. I was provoked when they tried to make a fool out of me.

"I got agitated when they pretended not to understand the answers that I was giving."

As to why he waited so long to make a clarification, the deputy minister replied: "I didn't know anything about this until a Chinese friend told me that Lim's statement had been reported in the Chinese press.

"I felt that I must put a stop to this kind of nonsense," he said, reiterating that he was shocked that a senior politician like Lim could resort to such measures.

No apology

Sothinathan also refused to tender an apology, saying: "If I have made a mistake, I would apologise. Since I haven't, why should I apologise?"

According to the parliamentary Hansard , this was what Sothinathan said:

Sothinathan: Siapa takut? Berani, mari lawanlah!!

Speaker: [Dr Yusuf Yacob]: Ya, ya, Timbalan Menteri, teruskan, teruskan.

Sothinathan: Oh, cakap macam lelaki bukan? Mari lawan, mari lawan! Jangan cakap no gender bias.