Despite his relatively short time with PKR, Maszlee Malik said he felt more at home with a multi-ethnic party while describing the bumiputera-centric nature of Bersatu to be "awkward".

"If you ask me to describe how I feel, what I can say is that I am more comfortable today being in PKR.

"When I go to meet the people, the voters at my constituency in Simpang Renggam, during my time with Bersatu, I could not invite everyone I meet to join my party because Bersatu is a party exclusively for the Malays," Maszlee told Malaysiakini candidly during a recent interview.

Maszlee said attempts to make Bersatu more inclusive in the past were often met by cynicism by the party leadership and grassroots.