Mustapha Yaakub, secretary-general of the Umno Veterans’ Club, pointed out that seat negotiations were still an issue yet to be resolved among the current BN component parties.

He claimed that PBM, led by former PKR vice-president Zuraida Kamaruddin, merely wanted to make use of BN’s strength with the 15th general election looming.

“There’s no need for BN to be in a hurry in accepting (PBM), especially with GE15 just around the corner.

“Even giving up some (seats) to Friends of BN, who have been with us for a long time, is hard enough. It will be much harder with a new party added,” he said.

The Friends of BN grouping comprises Makkal Sakti, Parti Cinta Malaysia, the All Malaysian Indian Progressive Front, Malaysian Indian Muslim Congress, Malaysian Indian United Party and Parti Punjabi Malaysia.

Beruas Umno chief Azhar Ahmad said BN should accept these six “friends” into the coalition first before allowing PBM to join the fold.

Since it would make seat negotiations difficult, he said, parties should not be seeking to join the bloc just to field candidates in the elections. “If they’re just joining BN to contest seats, then there’s no need to accept them,” he said.

PBM had applied to join BN in July but there has been no response yet. BN deputy chairman Mohamad Hasan had said the component parties must reach a consensus on PBM’s application.

PBM is led by Zuraida as its president-designate while Julau MP Larry Sng is president and Tebrau MP Steven Choong is a vice-president. All three used to be in PKR.