KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today clarified that his invitation to unite the Malays under the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) political party was directed towards members of other parties, and not the party entity itself.
The Prime Minister clarified that the invitation was directed towards individuals and not parties as a whole, saying Pakatan Harapan (PH) with its current four-party coalition was already sufficient.
“PH cannot accept any more parties because if we have any more parties then candidates for elections will be a problem, because in the end, everybody would want a candidacy and we don’t have enough constituencies.
“So if they come into the existing parties, it’s okay,” he quipped.
On the recent comment by Umno president Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi rejecting his invitation to join PPBM, Dr Mahathir said other members of Umno could instead jump over if the president was not interested.
“The president doesn’t want, but the others can enter,” he said, drawing laughter during the press conference.
His comments come after Dr Mahathir extended his invite towards the Malays to unite under PPBM, saying this was important as more Malay parties were being formed which in turn reduced the potentials of the Malay parties to win the election.
Adding further, Dr Mahathir said the existence of the four Malay political parties, namely PPBM, PKR, PAS, and Umno, was sufficient to champion the Malay agenda, advising against the formation of more Malay-based parties.
“No need to have up to 20 or 30 parties just for the sake of them wanting to be a party president, they just want to form a party and in the end there are only two members, the president and his vice president. Parties like this are meaningless.
“The Malays must learn that politics is a serious matter and not just done to satisfy the desires of someone, it’s to carry on the fight (for the people),” he said.
Dr Mahathir said the formation of many smaller parties would in the end prove detrimental to the Malay community as there would not be one dominant party to represent them or would be able to invoke change.
“That’s why I said, they can enter any party that is there, there are enough, there are four parties which is enough.
“This is not a racist sentiment, this is to save everyone, where if we see the Malays, they are left behind and the reason is not because of me or their party, it is because they don’t want to be united,” he added.
