KUALA LUMPUR: Umno has voiced its gratitude to Barisan Nasional’s four component parties for “their utmost loyalty” to the coalition.

       Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said that Barisan had been reduced to only four “close friends”, namely MCA, MIC, Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) and Umno.

       This was the outcome after the coalition, which earlier had 14 member parties, lost the general election in 2018, he said at the opening of the annual Umno Youth, Wanita and Puteri wings’ meetings pon Wednesday (March 16).

       “There were many Umno’s leaders who left the party. This led to the creation of Bersatu, Pejuang and Warisan, which we could not reconcile with,” he added.

       Mohamad, or Tok Mat, also said that the creation of these parties had disrupted Umno’s potential to become the strongest party for the Malays.

       He said there were some who “in the blink of an eye”, gave up on Umno.

       “When Umno started to receive support again from the Malays, they came back as if they had been defending the party all along,” he said.

       He said due to such “opportunists”, Umno would continue to face crises that require it to work towards building confidence of the rakyat, he said