A PROPOSAL by former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to unite all Malay-based parties under a single ‘umbrella’ has been dismissed as “desperate and provocative” by Sungai Petani MP Dr Mohammed Taufiq Johari.
Taufiq, who is also Vice Chief of the national youth wing of the ruling Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), criticised the initiative as a thinly veiled attempt to revive old racial narratives in the absence of substantive policy ideas from the opposition.
“Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man must know that Dr M’s proposal for all Malay-based parties to come under a single, broad group is a desperate and provocative move,” he said in a Facebook post on Friday, referring to the PAS deputy president who had expressed support for Mahathir’s call.
The MP questioned the credibility of the unity claims, noting that both Dr Mahathir and PAS have previously been responsible for fragmentation within the Malay community.
“They now pretend to champion unity, but both Dr Mahathir and Pas have repeatedly fractured the Malay community in the past. Dr Mahathir himself left UMNO, then formed Bersatu, and later Pejuang. Pas, meanwhile, severed ties with UMNO under Muafakat Nasional,” he said.
Dr Mahathir on Wednesday announced a new group under the banner of the "Malay People's Secretariat", claiming it was a necessary step to “restore Malay power”.
The announcement was made at the Perdana Leadership Foundation and was attended by opposition figures including Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (PN chairman), Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin (Bersatu deputy president), and Tuan Ibrahim.
Taufiq countered this rhetoric by reaffirming the strength and diversity of the current unity government under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, noting it features strong Malay leadership alongside inclusive representation across Malaysia’s ethnic and regional spectrum.
“The unity and prosperity brought by the Madani government have left the opposition scrambling. They have no real policy platform to offer and so return to tired racial narratives,” he said.
He also urged Malaysians to reject “irresponsible claims and false narratives” designed to sow division for political gain.
“What does Mahathir even mean by ‘restoring Malay power’?” he asked. “This is a gathering of disgruntled leaders trying hard to distract the rakyat with a false narrative.”
On Thursday, Umno Youth chief Datuk Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh has firmly rejected former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s invitation for Umno members to join his newly launched Malay Secretariat, citing past actions to outlaw the party.
“Thank you, Tun. We appreciate the invitation. But we still remember what happened. The same person also wanted to ban Umno when they were in power,” Dr Muhamad Akmal told Sinar Harian on Thursday.
Dr Mahathir, who recently unveiled the Malay Secretariat coalition as a platform to restore Malay political dominance, stated that the invitation was open not to Umno as a party, but to its individual members.
In response, Dr Muhamad Akmal said any true call to unite the Malays must be grounded in sincerity rather than driven by ambition or a desire for power.
“If there is a genuine desire to unite the race, let it come from a sincere heart out of love for religion and race, not merely to secure positions for oneself,” he added.
Dr Mahathir has claimed that Malay political influence has grown increasingly weak, justifying the need for a new movement. His comments and alliance with opposition leaders in the Malay Secretariat have sparked renewed political debate over the use of racial narratives to mobilise support. - June 6, 2025
