The government will still be led by Malays even if Umno is defeated, said Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) president Muhyiddin Yassin.

"In fact, DAP leaders in my meetings with them agree that the Malaysian prime minister must be a Malay and not from DAP," he said in a statement today.

As such, so there is no reason for Malays to fear being on the losing end if Umno is defeated.

"DAP will not be able to defeat Umno. The ones that will defeat Umno are opposition parties led by Malays that is Bersatu, PAS, PKR, and Amanah," Muhyiddin said.

Muhyiddin was responding to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's who in his Umno annual general assembly policy speech said Malay rights and privileges would be eroded should a DAP-led opposition come to power.

He ended the AGM yesterday with a clip of former DAP man Hew Kuan Yau telling voters to let the "Malays screw the Malays".

Meanwhile in his policy speech at the DAP National Convention in Shah Alam, the party’s secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said DAP had never sought for the prime minister’s post because the party is sensitive to the concerns of Malays and Muslims.

“DAP rejects racially-based parties and recognises the importance of working with Malay parties and prominent Malay personalities.

“Being sensitive to issues that concern Malays and Muslims, DAP has never sought the position of the prime minister.

“Neither have we ever asked that a Chinese be a prime minister but has always supported a Malay especially Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, as prime minister,” he said.

Also present at the convention is Bersatu chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who said Najib’s claim of DAP is vying for the prime minister’s post is an example of how Najib is playing to racist sentiments to win Malay support.

“Guan Eng has already said that DAP has never asked to be prime minister. This is how Najib uses racist sentiments to win the hearts of the Malays.

“Now electoral boundaries are being with redrawn – Malays with Malays, Chinese with Chinese, Indians with Indians, and Kadazan, Dusun, and the rest in their respective constituencies. This is racism to the extreme,” he told a press conference after the opening of the convention.

Muhyiddin in his statement said the Umno president is only running down DAP because he was afraid of how strong the Malays in the opposition have become.

This makes them a viable alternative for the community, he said.

The former deputy prime minister also said the Umno AGM this year had turned into a show of loyalty to Najib.

"As far as I remember, the AGM is a place for the Umno president to talk about issues concerning the position of Malays, Islam, the country's future, and the well-being of all the people.

"But this year the tone was different. The Umno president demanded all the members to give walak (loyalty to leaders) to him blindly without question, as though that is the tradition of Umno and the practice of Malays who hold on to Islam," he said.

Najib in his opening remarks at the AGM said Islam called for loyalty to one's leaders as long as they do not lead them to commit sin.

In turn, delegates and party leaders speaking at this year's Umno AGM all voiced their loyalty to Najib as their president.

This was in contrast to the mood surrounding last year's AGM when Najib and Muhyiddin, who was then Umno deputy president, were at odds with each other.