KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 — Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof said Umno needs to look at its political strategies and reevaluate its raison d'etre.

In an interview with Utusan Malaysia, the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said if Umno fails to do this, there will be endless bickering which will affect the progress of the Malays.

Redzuan said looking at Umno’s culture, there are only a handful of members who are adamant about not working with Bersatu. 

"It’s only a small group of people with personal agendas. 

"This is because Umno’s culture of 60 years has been ingrained in them. Hence Umno needs a new approach and to reevaluate the reason it is in politics, be it for policy reasons, economic reasons, or anything else. 

"If this animosity leads to the coalition breaking up then it will be hard to achieve any goal. In the end, the Bumiputeras will lose out,” he told the Malay daily. 

Redzuan said Umno remains relevant, despite some of its members having jumped ship to join Bersatu.

He said Bersatu accepted them as it was an opportunity to move in a similar direction with the ideology of promoting a joint Melayu-Islam unification.

"When Bersatu, Umno and PAS join hands, we make up two-thirds of the majority and this will be a victory for the people based on our Constitution and democracy,” he said.

When asked if there was conflict within the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition, Redzuan admitted that the members have not sat down to discuss a joint objective as yet.

He said that those grumbling about their dissatisfaction of being in PN were political leaders who don’t know which direction they’re headed.

"Even I don’t understand it,” Redzuan quipped.

"Are they expressing their willingness to work with us or otherwise?” he asked.

"I am very open. Looking at the current climate, we need to strengthen our position. We need to realise that a Barisan Nasional (BN), PN or Pakatan Harapan government were based on race.

"Meaning PN can’t exist without those from MCA and MIC. PH can’t exist without DAP and the same goes for Umno,” he said. 

Apart from that, Redzuan, who is Bersatu’s supreme council member, said no one party will dominate the general election this time round. 

He said after 60 years of BN rule, there may be a lot of good policies but its implementation fell short, citing the New Economic Policy where Bumiputera participation still lags behind.

"I hope PN will be given the mandate (to rule) along with Umno as it is still relevant. The ones spoiling Umno are a small group who are influenced by corruption,” he added.