The new coalition would not be a threat to the unity government alliance, he said at the assembly. “Don’t worry Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, I don’t have any agenda of forming a backdoor government.”

Zahid said the hope was for the grand coalition to “truly unite the spirit and struggle of Malay-Muslim parties in a larger framework”.

“We do not want any party that joins to dissolve their party,” he said. “Instead, let’s become informal allies first as a preliminary step, and turn it into a grand coalition. With this, we can set our differences aside and be under one roof.”

Members of the new alliance would have to agree not to disrupt the unity government in order to join the grand coalition, he said.

Zahid, who is also chairman of Barisan Nasional, said he hoped to hold a retreat for BN component parties and allies to discuss “rebranding” the coalition in preparation for the next general election.

The proposal for a grand coalition is the latest in a series of efforts over the years to unite Malay-Muslim parties, although such alliances have fallen apart quickly.

In 2019, Umno and PAS, arguably the nation’s two largest Malay-Muslim parties, formed Muafakat Nasional but it collapsed after PAS joined Bersatu in forming the Perikatan Nasional political coalition that went on to form a new government in 2020.

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had also launched several initiatives to unite the Malay polity, including the Gerakan Tanah Air coalition spearheaded by his party Pejuang which, however, failed to win a single seat in the 2022 general election.

Last year, Mahathir made another attempt at a Malay unity alliance in an effort to “restore Malay power” in the federal government.