KUALA LUMPUR Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Saturday told his coalition partners their multiethnic alliance will one day become a single party, but first they must work to win the youth vote for the 2004 election.

The Barisan Nasional (BN), now made up of 13 members, has led every government since independence from Britain in 1957, and embraces parties from the country's ethnic Malay, Chinese and Indian communities.

"In the long run the Barisan Nasional will become one party and not just an alliance," Reuters quoted Mahathir as telling the first BN convention since 1995.

"This should take time but this should be our objective."

Mahathir's newfound enthusiasm for forging stronger links with Malaysia's sizable ethnic minorities follows a failure to draw Malay opposition groups into talks to bridge bitter divisions in the country's ethnic majority.

The Malay vote was split by the 1998 sacking and jailing of Mahathir's former deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, on sex and graft charges.

Most Malay voters gravitated to the Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), which heads the four party opposition front, although Mahathir expressed confidence the BN would see off the challenge.

"I am convinced the unity in the Barisan Nasional will ensure that in election year 2004 we'll bid goodbye to this copycat front," Mahathir told the gathering.

Strains are showing as the second largest opposition party, the Chinese-based Democratic Action Party, has told PAS to stop pushing its religious agenda, particularly its long term goal to form an Islamic state.

The third largest partner, Parti Keadilan Nasional, headed by Anwar's wife, is planning to merge with the tiny, fourth member, Parti Rakyat Malaysia.

But despite the strains the opposition has appealed more successfully to young Malaysians and Mahathir voiced worries that BN parties were out of touch with the youth.

"The people in the current generation believe their world is guaranteed to stay peaceful and prosperous and they will continue enjoying good livelihoods. So they feel they don't need the cooperative politics of the Barisan Nasional," he said.

"They are more taken up with other ideals," he added.