LETTER | I strongly opine that Dr Mahathir Mohammad’s Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) should get its affairs in order before thinking about leading Pakatan Harapan or ruling the nation.

Playing the victim and putting on a public relations show may win it some sympathy from unknowing people, but those who have been following the developments should know that the Registrar of Societies (ROS) has already done plenty to accommodate both Bersatu and Harapan’s requests.

This is a far cry from when its chairman Dr Mahathir was the prime minister. Many opposition political parties were never allowed to be registered. Same goes for the likes of PSM, who have tried registering their party since the 1990s, and have had to contest two elections using another party’s logo.

On the contrary, Bersatu is barely over a year old and appears to be trying to run before it learns to crawl - like making demands of ROS and bossing their way around their seniors in Harapan.

I strongly feel that Bersatu needs to first ensure the present members stop attacking each other in the media over the party's leadership. This friendly-fire, followed by those respective members going off to claim themselves as the “real” leaders of Bersatu are confusing to both the public and the authorities trying to register them.

I would also like to stress that Bersatu should comply, just like DAP, PKR and other parties with its own party constitution to hold AGMs once a year. On the party constitution, they should iron out matters that have been raised by the ROS with the ROS, instead of complaining about "unfair" treatment.

The truth of the matter is, ROS and the present government have been far more tolerant of Bersatu than its own leaders have been treating other parties under their rule.

Bersatu should stop fighting shadows and blaming everything on the government, as they should first be focused simply on correcting their own problems themselves.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.