DR MAHATHIR Mohamad said this evening that he invited members of Malay parties to join Bersatu, but does not want parties to join the Pakatan Harapan pact.

“If we accept any more parties, then choosing candidates for elections will be a problem. Everyone wants their own candidates.

“However, if the members of these parties join our parties, then it is OK,” he said after chairing the PH presidential council meeting at the Perdana Leadership Foundation in Putrajaya today.

The Prime Minister said four Malay-based political parties – Bersatu, Amanah, Umno and PAS – nationwide was enough.

“The Malays have to learn to take politics seriously. I have explained to my cabinet members that Malays are not good at politics, they just want to be party president.

“They have already accepted my explanation why I said the Malays should join Bersatu,” he said.

Last Friday, the prime minister extended what appeared to be an open invitation for Malays to join Bersatu.

“If we are split, we become weak, united we stand, divided we fall (bercerai roboh, bersatu teguh) but we find that there are people forming new parties, (now) we have become six, soon there will be 10, 100.”

“If there are 30 people in one party, how do you win?” he said after the Johor Bersatu Aidilfitri open house at the Dewan Serbaguna Johor Jaya last week.

Mahathir then revealed that all five parties in PH, including Warisan, were able to co-operate without any trouble.

“I am grateful, after a year all of us in four parties are able to work well with each other.

“We have another party Warisan from Sabah and all five worked well. We did not throw bottles at each other during meetings. Cabinet was able to function,” he said. – July 8, 2019.