Its information chief, Wan Saiful Wan Jan, said it was business as usual, especially with its membership increasing rapidly.

“In the meantime, we will continue our fight against corruption and push for good governance and integrity which will benefit all Malaysians irrespective of race or religion,” he said in a Facebook post today.

Wan Saiful was commenting on the defection of several Bersatu leaders and elected representatives to PBM, a new party that plans to join Barisan Nasional.

PBM is led by Julau MP Larry Sng, a former PKR man, who left the party to become an independent MP aligned to Perikatan Nasional last year. He was among the 31 names revealed as the top leaders of the party recently.

Among the names announced for the top posts in the party were Tronoh assemblyman Paul Yong, who is facing rape charges, and Buntong assemblyman A Sivasubramaniam. Both were elected under DAP tickets in the 2018 general election but left to join Bersatu after that.

Yong is the party’s treasurer-general while Sivasubramaniam is senior vice-president II.

Others included former PKR Wanita chief Haniza Talha as deputy president I, former Meluan assemblyman Wong Judat as deputy president II and Tebrau MP Steven Choong as senior vice-president I. Haniza is a former Selangor state executive councillor.

Earlier, there were reports that plantation industries and commodities minister Zuraida Kamaruddin may head the party.

However, the Bersatu Supreme Council member and former PKR vice-president said she had not received any such offer.