Malaysian leadership, opposition suffer defections

Malaysia's opposition has shrugged-off a rash of defections to the ruling party.

A former senior member of opposition figurehead Anwar Ibrahim's Keadilan party, Ezam Mohamad Nor, is the most prominent of the six who are being welcomed back into the United Malays National Organisation - a key member of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.

But Tian Chua, Keadilan's official spokesman, told Radio Australia's Connect Asia program that the number of government figures defecting to the opposition would more than compensate for the loss of a few members.

"So we have high profile members, we have massive members coming from Barisan Nasional joining the opposition, so we are not to troubled by a few members, a few ex-members, defect to Barisan Nasional."