BN Backbenchers' Council chairperson Shahrir Abdul Samad has reprimanded Umno's Kempas assemblyperson Tengku Putra Haron Aminurrashid Tengku Hamid Jumat for joining Umno supreme council member Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz in attacking MCA.

Tengku Putra Haron had called MCA "racist" for defending tycoon Robert Kuok at Umno's expense and asked that the party be removed from the government if it cannot perform in the next general election.

"To accuse and say such things is wrong because there will come a time where they (MCA) will be helpful to us.

"In 1999, during the time when Anwar Ibrahim was very strong and the Malay sentiments were negative towards Umno, the MCA and the Chinese sentiment helped BN," he was quoted as saying by The Star Online.

Nazri had initially called Kuok a "pondan" (effeminate) and challenged him to relinquish his Malaysian citizenship after blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin accused the tycoon of funding DAP.

Kuok denied the claim and said he reserved the right to sue Raja Petra.

Nazri later said he was glad to hear Kuok's explanation, but neither regretted his words nor felt inclined to apologise.

MCA's insistence that Nazri should apologise led to a war of words between the two that continued to escalate.