Perkasa secretary-general Syed Hassan Syed Ali today admitted that he had looked into taking over Barisan Jemaah Islamiah Se-Malaysia (Berjasa).

However, Syed Hassan said he did this in his personal capacity without Perkasa’s involvement.

Syed Hassan added that he had proposed he idea to former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

“It is true that I proposed to Mahathir and Muhyiddin to take over Berjasa, but the two leaders were not interested to take over any political parties and the matter was left at there,” he said in a statement today.

He was responding to Berjasa acting president Mustapa Kamal Maulut who today claimed Perkasa was trying to take over his party but was rejected.

“I met him but never mentioned that Perkasa wanted to take over Berjasa.

“I met him in my personal capacity and not in my official position in Perkasa.

“Perkasa had never instructed me to negotiate with Mustapa or any other parties as Perkasa has no interest in becoming a political party,” said Syed Hassan.

Muhyiddin on Aug 9 registered Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Berjasa) which is intended to be an Umno splinter.

However, it remains to be seen if the Registrar of Societies will approve the application.

The Umno rebels may need to take over an existing party if the registration fails.