He also said that the “big tent” had failed to materialise as Umno was not involved.

He said Umno was not just a political party but a “Malay house” that served as a platform to unite the community and help them face current challenges, including those political in nature.

“There was an attempt to set up a big tent without Umno’s participation. And history has shown that it failed to get any traction.

“The ‘tent’ collapsed as it was not fastened to the ‘house’. Why the need for a ‘tent’ if the ‘house’ is stable?” he said in his keynote address at the Umno general assembly here.

While Zahid did not refer to anyone in particular, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in June last year invited Umno members to join his “Malay secretariat committee”, formed in hopes of uniting the Malays and “restoring Malay power” in government.

He said the coalition, which included PAS and Bersatu, was not a formal political party for now, but a broad umbrella to safeguard the political and economic future of the Malays.

Zahid, in an exclusive interview with FMT, had questioned the viability of a “big tent” for Malay parties, saying the last tent “fell apart under the weight of political greed” – a reference to Muafakat Nasional and Perikatan Nasional.