KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 ― The Opposition pact as a whole cannot afford to exclude "ex-Umno members” from its ranks if it wants to best the Barisan Nasional (BN) in GE14, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said.

The Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) president acknowledged that some within PH might still be uneasy with counting him and ex-prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in the federal Opposition pact.

However, he pointed out that the pact as a whole has made inroads in garnering voter support within Umno strongholds, the rural seats that are predominantly Malay and Muslim.

"Yes, we are ex-Umno, but there are many types of ex-Umno, and being a new party, we cannot be so choosy.

"I think it is part of the growing-up process. As we get along and become more mature and understand better, that, in a way, has gone into deep Umno heartland,” he said in an interview with The Edge weekly paper published today.

Muhyiddin believed even second-tier or third-tier leaders from Umno would back the Opposition in GE14 on May 9.

"We can see that we have got the numbers. When we do a survey, we can see that it is not just the members who are supporting but the non-members who are still part of the Umno structure are supporting as well.

"They are now slowly getting into... I'm not saying Rais and Rafidah are supporting us, but they sounded like us. These are the top people, and the second level, third level? I would believe come election, they will be with us,” he added.

Tan Sri Rais Yatim and Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz were formerly ministers.

Muhyiddin was responding to the question of how different the federal Opposition can be from the ruling party Umno when it was also made up of those formerly from Umno.

PPBM was founded in September 2016 and accepts Bumiputera as members, while non-Bumiputera can only be associate members.

The associate members have similar rights as ordinary voters except for the right to vote and contest for party posts, but can also be appointed to party leadership positions.

Umno is a Malay-based party.