JERLUN,  Dec 15 — The trend of Umno members quitting their party and later joining Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) is not a tactic to strengthen the party with additional seats in Parliament, says Bersatu deputy president, Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir.

He clarified that it is a practice of democracy for the people to join the party they like, but it depends on whether the party leadership accepts or rejects their applications.

"This was what I told my component partners that in the practice of democracy we do not need to reject any parties wishing to join Pakatan Harapan (PH) as it is not certain he will join Bersatu as some maybe joining Parti Warisan Sabah (WARISAN) or maybe PKR, Amanah or DAP.

"So we should be open, I understand the concerns of component partners and we have explained to them that there is no desire to strengthen the position of Bersatu with more MPs,” he told reporters after a Back to School Uniform contribution programme here today.

He was commenting on the moves of several Umno leaders in quitting the party to join Bersatu which had sparked concerns among PH component members.

Mukhriz said PH component partners need no fret over the situation as Bersatu would be holding to the cooperation agreement signed earlier and would not take actions which could adversely affect PH.

He also stressed that Bersatu ​​​​​​​is also not a party for former Umno leaders to seek protection from investigations by police or the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for their wrongdoings.

"We will seriously vet any quarters wishing to be members and even after becoming members, such leaders would not be protected from police or MACC, we will allow the legal course of action to take place,” he said.

On the six Umno MPs who quit their party yesterday, he said Bersatu had not to receive any applications from them to join Bersatu. 

In the programme, about 1,000 poor primary school pupils in the state constituencies of Ayer Hitam and Kota Siputeh were presented with school uniform, socks and shoes. — Bernama