Many young Malays are joining PKR, but the party does not feel he need to trumpet this, PKR secretary-general Rafizi Ramli said.

He said in response to Penang Institute fellow Wong Chin Huat, who noted at a forum today that more and more young Malays are joining DAP.

"I contest it when Chin Huat said that a lot of the young Malays have joined the DAP.

"I don't think so, they have new brand names who join the DAP, but I think we (PKR) continue to attract a lot of the young Malays on a weekly (or) monthly basis.

"The only difference is that we don't have to go and tell the public, as opposed to the DAP," he said, at the forum held in Kuala Lumpur today.

"We can do that, but there's no necessity."

Nevertheless, the Pandan MP said it was important for the DAP to continue to do that in order for everyone to move away from race-based politics.

"We are not in a contest with the DAP to say who has more Malays.

"Our strategic position in Pakatan Rakyat is that we have to bring everyone, and at the same time, allow every single party to overcome the obstacles with electorates," he said.

He pointed out that the DAP's obstacle was in getting support from the Malays.

"We don't see the need to say that this month we have many more Malays than the DAP because the public will say that's obvious, you don't have to tell that," he said.

As of last year, several young Malays had joined the DAP in a move, critics say, as the party's bid to shed its "chauvinist" label. Among famous young Malay leaders who had joined the DAP were Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud and Syefura Othman.