“These parties say that they want to protect Malay interests but employ different approaches,” Azmi Hassan, a fellow at the National Council of Professors, said.

“They should just join forces in this matter,” he told FMT.

Mahathir said yesterday that while support for the idea of a united Malay front had been encouraging, each person aspiring to be prime minister was now building up their own big umbrella.

Mahathir, who was prime minister twice, said this would result in “two, three, or even more big umbrellas”.

“And the Malays will support and become members of these umbrellas. Just like with party membership, the Malays will become divided. Thus, the big umbrellas will also divide the Malays,” he said in a social media post.

Syaza Shukri of International Islamic University Malaysia did not question the ability of big umbrella platforms to resolve issues affecting the Malay community.

However, she said it would be difficult for Malaysia, a multicultural country, to achieve political stability if the government was formed by only Malay parties.

She said Malay-based parties would need to forge alliances with non-Malay-based parties.

“It is not sufficient for only the Malays to be united. They must work alongside the other races. Only then will there be stability,” she said.