Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced the formation of an "independent" Malay party which would uphold Bersatu's original anti-corruption struggle.
The reason for this move was because he claimed Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin had “hijacked” the party.
Mahathir also claimed all other Malay-based parties had become more focused on protecting “elites” rather than the Malays.
“We know there are already many political parties, especially among the Malays. Our (new) party is also a Malay party.
“Why do we need four Malay parties? Because Umno, PAS and Bersatu under Muhyiddin’s leadership have departed from their struggle when it comes to Malay politics,” he said.
The former premier said his new party - which has yet to be named or registered with the Registrar of Societies (ROS) - would not be tied to Pakatan Harapan or Perikatan Nasional. It would be referred to as “Bebas” for now.
"When we contest (in the next general election) we may have some agreement with parties, we may not. But after the election, we may join one group or the other.
"We are free, we are bebas, we can make any decision to join whichever party which we think will carry out the purpose for which we were formed," he said at a press conference at Yayasan Al-Bukhary today.
He gave a similar reply when asked whether he would form a third bloc together with Warisan.
Asked why he was not aligning his new force with former coalition partner Harapan, he cited “problems” with PKR.
“We wanted to work with Harapan, but we have some problems with the biggest party in Harapan. I don't want to mention it, but I think you all know,” he quipped.
“We are not breaking away from anybody, we are just free from everybody,” Mahathir added when asked if he was breaking away from PKR President Anwar Ibrahim.
‘Be brave, register us’
The Langkawi MP predicted his new party would run into “problems” with the ROS as Bersatu and Harapan did before GE14.
He challenged Perikatan Nasional to prove it was not afraid of him.
“We expect to have problems with registering, (but) we hope that the government is brave enough to register us,” he said.
The party will be temporarily headed by Mahathir as its chairperson and his son Mukhriz Mahathir as the president.
It will be contesting the Slim by-election in Perak, but Mahathir said it was inclined to “leave Sabah to Warisan” when asked about the impending state election.
Also seen at the press conference were former Bersatu secretary-general Marzuki Yahya, Simpang Renggam MP Maszlee Malik, Kubang Pasu MP Amiruddin Hamzah and Sri Gading MP Shahruddin Md Salleh.
Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, a Mahathir loyalist, was not present and was said to be in Johor to mark the occasion of his mother's retirement.
Mahathir also said the new party would prove to other races that the Malays were honourable people and “not treacherous”.
While associate membership for non-Malays has not been decided on yet, he assured the party would look after the interest of all races.
"We are very conscious this is a multiracial country [...] we will be fair to all the other races," said the former two-time prime minister.
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