Wan Azizah guarantees Malaysians PPBM will not be another Umno

(FMT) – Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia will not turn itself into another Umno, according to Pakatan Harapan president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

She said she was confident there was nothing in PPBM’s set up to suggest it was a carbon copy of Umno, the Malay-based party that led the former ruling government.

“So it is different from Umno as the party’s foundations are not the same,” she said. “When we were talking about the 21 years of the Reformasi movement, Tun (PPBM chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad) said he was with Umno longer than that and yet left the party.

Wan Azizah was asked if PPBM could transform itself into an Umno like party with goals and aspirations that differed to those espoused by the Pakatan Harapan coalition.

Asked about Dr Mahathir’s invitation to all Malay parties including Umno to join PPBM in efforts to unite the Malays, Wan Azizah said this was because PPBM, by set up itself, was a Malay-based party.

She said the invite was also to increase party membership and consolidate political power. “However, I think PAS and Umno have already indicated that they are not interested (with the invitation to join Bersatu),” she said.

Yesterday, Dr Mahathir invited all Malay parties including Umno to join the party, saying that he found more and more Malay parties were being formed which reduced the chances of them winning the election.