KUALA LUMPUR, May 11 -- After his expulsion from Umno, Khairy Jamaluddin said he thought "long and hard" about setting up his own political party but chose not to do so for the sake of Malay unity.

Khairy said launching his own party would have further fragmented the Malay voter base that was already in a foour-way split involving Umno, PAS, Amanah and Pejuang.

"The Malay voters already have many parties and I didn't want to contribute towards even more political fragmentation.

"For me, it's better to have stronger parties," Khairy said in an exclusive interview with Malay Mail recently.

Khairy said new parties would also have little impact in the next one or two election cycles and sustaining them would also be difficult in the long ...