KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 15 — Umno will not accept an ally poaching one of its leaders, the Malay nationalist party said in a direct response to PKR that could recruit Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz.

In the party’s most plain remarks on the matter so far, Umno secretary-general Datuk Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki said his party viewed the issue with the utmost gravity.

"Umno firmly maintains its stance that it will never accept or allow the practice of party-hopping by members of any party within the Unity Government.

"The culture of poaching members or leaders from each other's parties will only create disputes and conflicts, jeopardising the coalition’s stability,” he said in a statement.

The Umno leader reminded PKR of what could happen if political alliances were to fray, in veiled reference to the 2020 defections that brought down the the Pakatan Harapan administration then.

Earlier today, PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim confirmed rumours that there were discussions on Tengku Zafrul possibly defecting to his party from Umno.

Anwar, who is the prime minister, said his party did not invite the Umno minister to join, but did not reject this outright in the spirit of "openness”.

Tengku Zafrul said earlier that he would clarify his position soon, but has not done so.

Asyraf acknowledged in his statement that Anwar has consulted Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi over the matter.

Earlier this week, a news portal published a speculative report suggesting that Tengku Zafrul would jump from Umno to PKR, which were both nominally allies in the national unity government.

After the 2022 general election resulted in a hung parliament, PKKR and Umno led their respective coalitions into an unlikely alliance that eventually became the national unity government.

At the time, Umno had been expected to side with Perikatan Nasional, which continues to reach out to the former on the basis of Malay-Muslim political power and unity.