Commenting on Umno’s “Rumah Bangsa” initiative to unite Malay parties, Wan Fayhsal said there have already been other similar efforts in the past, including Muafakat Nasional (MN).

The former Bersatu leader said what was more important was consolidating Malay political power, which was currently divided, Utusan Malaysia reported.

“That means we need to have an electoral pact (among the Malay parties),” the Machang MP was quoted as saying.

The former deputy minister said this would require putting aside egos in order to unite the top leaders of the main Malay parties.

However, he said Bersatu no longer held any value in this regard and could potentially end up like Pejuang with zero seats to its name.

“So the core to such consolidation would be those who are with (opposition leader) Hamzah Zainudin, PAS and Umno. Seat allocation can be discussed later. There are formulas for this; there’s nothing to worry about.

“What’s important is the intention. Do you want to consolidate Malay political power?”

Wan Fayhsal expressed his belief that former Bersatu deputy president Hamzah was the man for the job, citing his good ties with both PAS and Umno.

Umno’s proposal for a grand coalition was floated last month, the latest in a series of efforts over the years to unite Malay-Muslim parties, although such alliances have fallen apart quickly.

In 2019, Umno and PAS, arguably the nation’s two largest Malay-Muslim parties, formed the MN pact, but it collapsed after PAS joined Bersatu in establishing Perikatan Nasional, which went on to form a new government in 2020.

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had also launched several initiatives to unite the Malay polity, including the Gerakan Tanah Air coalition spearheaded by his party Pejuang which, however, failed to win even a single seat in the 2022 general election.

Last year, Mahathir made another attempt at a Malay unity alliance in an effort to “restore Malay power” in the federal government.