KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 — Umno has no intention to stop championing Malay rights just because it is now in government with Pakatan Harapan (PH), the Malay nationalist party’s Kedah chairman Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said.

Mahdzir said he's confident that the Malay voters in Kedah — which is among five states to face elections this year — will not easily fall for the narratives that claim Umno has forgotten its roots for political expediency, New Straits Times reported today.

"I do not believe that the Malays in Kedah are easily misled that when we worked with DAP and PH, we diluted our struggles for the Malays.

"I don't think so, because Malay leadership is dominant. Even Anthony Loke has pointed out at the unity government's national convention recently that the Malay members of Parliament are the majority in Parliament,” he was quoted as saying in Alor Setar, Kedah after a state-level Barisan Nasional (BN) and PH convention announcement yesterday.

Loke is the secretary-general of DAP, a component party in PH.

Mahdzir also said that Malay leadership has never played second fiddle regardless of which political coalition held Putrajaya.

"We have no problem with that. The other races respected what is enshrined in the Constitution and we also look after the other races.

"We hope the people in Kedah will be able to think wisely,” he was quoted as saying.

The daily reported that the Kedah "unity” convention will be held on May 21 at the Ampang Business Centre at Alor Setar.

Umno chairman and Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi will launch, and some 1,300 delegates representing all BN and PH component parties will attend the one-day convention.

PH secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution will be closing the convention.