PUTRAJAYA, June 4 — Former minister Tan Sri Rais Yatim today officially became a member of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM).

Its party chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had handed over the membership card to Rais at the party’s breaking fast event in Putrajaya.

2,000 PPBM members from Peninsular Malaysia showed up for the event.

Leading up the general elections, Rais was investigated by the Umno disciplinary board over his posts on social media, following the sacking of its veteran members Tun Daim Zainuddin and Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz for publicly showing their support for Pakatan Harapan.

Rais had been a long time Umno member, save for the time he fell out of favour of the party leadership in 1987 and became a member of the opposition Semangat 46 from 1989 to 1996.

Rais had held multiple Federal posts between 1974 to 2013 — Information, Communication, and Culture, Foreign Affairs, and Culture, Arts and Heritage — and was also the Negri Sembilan Mentri Besar from 1978 to 1982.