Nazri Aziz said anything can happen in Malaysian politics, as seen throughout its history.

“Before this, we couldn’t have imagined that former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad would be hugging DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang. And all the other drama.

“Down the road, in the next five to six years, it (PPBM) may hug us and return to Umno,” he told reporters at the National Arts, Culture and Heritage Academy today.

Nazri, who is tourism and culture minister, said eventually the “principle-less party” will pass a resolution to dissolve the party and rejoin Umno for the sake of unity.

He was asked on the possibility of a mass departure of Umno members joining Mahathir-led PPBM after the upcoming Umno general assembly from Nov 29 till Dec 3.

“Historically, we can see that splinter parties can never match Umno,” he said, adding that such behaviour was predictable.

Nazri, who is Padang Rengas MP, said in the long run, splinter parties have never succeeded as they were personality and revenge driven.

“Angry people leave Umno and set up a new party for revenge.

“I don’t worry about this at all. They should learn from previous leaders who have betrayed Umno out of anger but whose efforts ended up being pointless.”

When asked to comment on the upcoming Umno general assembly, Nazri said it could be their last gathering before facing the next general election.

Due to that, he said Umno members need to display unity and not make use of the general assembly to campaign for their benefit.

“What I am worried about is there may be Umno members who will campaign for themselves instead of the party.

“They must win the people’s hearts and the next general election, which is far more important than focusing on internal rivalry.”

He acknowledged that the coming general election would be a tough fight for Barisan Nasional.

In 2015, Umno postponed its party elections until after the 14th general election, which must be held latest by June 2018.