Khaled said the turmoil that has erupted in Bersatu showed the fractious nature of the Umno splinter party, which was officially formed in 2017 by former Umno leaders like Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Muhyiddin Yassin.

He said the leadership of Bersatu seemed to be always grappling for positions and that their focus was not on the people’s needs and challenges, Berita Harian reported.

“We know how that party (Bersatu) was formed. It has only been several years, and yet the party is already deeply divided. This shows that we cannot place high hopes in new parties like Bersatu.

“As chairman of the ‘Rumah Bangsa’ committee (in Umno), I welcome them to return to Umno. I hope we can all return to one platform to champion the Malays, because it doesn’t benefit the Malays to be divided,” he was quoted as saying.

Hamzah and 16 MPs aligned with him are reportedly expected to join a political party next week, according to Padang Rengas MP Azahari Hassan.

Former Bersatu Supreme Council member Yunus Nurdin, meanwhile, said Hamzah would take over a smaller party to expand his influence ahead of the next general election.

Bersatu was formed as an Umno splinter at the height of the 1MDB controversy, and went on to join Pakatan Harapan, which ousted Barisan Nasional from federal power in the 2018 general election.

Bersatu left PH in 2020, resulting in the collapse of the federal government, while Mahathir and several others formed Pejuang after their sacking from Bersatu.

The biggest Malay party currently in terms of parliamentary representation is PAS with 43 seats, the highest of any single party in the Dewan Rakyat.