KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 15 — Sacked from Umno, Tan Sri Annuar Musa today said he had advised party leaders to unite the country’s major Malay and Muslim parties if it wanted to secure an unshakeable victory in the 15th general election.

He added that because his advice was ignored, the Barisan Nasional anchor is now a "minority party”.

"After the disaster of 14th general election, I told Umno that there’s only one way to political stability, which is to unite all major Malay-Muslim parties and then offer our hand to other allies.

"However, the idea failed because of differences in opinion and GE15 showed that going solo had made Barisan Nasional a minority party.

"Umno only plays a small part now. It didn’t manage to become the main pillar in this unity government,” he told a news conference here.

The former Keterah MP also said his new outfit, a non-governmental organisation called Muafakat Nasional (MN), has drawn over 20,000 members since he opened up registration last week.

He said his MN — which is a separate entity from its namesake alliance formed in 2019 between Umno and PAS under Islamic unity that is all but buried — will be strictly non-political.

He added that active politicians are not allowed to hold senior positions in his MN before announcing the names of its 30 council leaders.

Among them are Tengku Idris Sultan Abu Bakar, former Tanjong Karang MP Tan Sri Noh Omar, and former Ampang MP Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin.

Annuar also claimed that his new outfit has the support of former two-time prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad even as he admitted that the latter did not request to be a member.

"I’m grateful that he had given me strong support and told me he is worried about the current standing of Malay-Muslims.

"He said that in 20 years from now if nothing is done, the standing of Malay-Muslims in this country will not be what we had wished during the time of independence,” Annuar said, referring to Dr Mahathir who was soundly defeated in the GE15, having lost his Langkawi federal seat and his election deposit.