Malaysia’s Senior Minister Azmin and allies expected to join new political party: Report
(The Straits Times, Singapore) – Malaysia’s Senior Minister for Economy Azmin Ali and his allies were expected to join a new political party that is being set up, amid continuing turbulence in the country’s politics.
The new party is expected to be helmed by Datuk Seri Azmin, 55, the former deputy president of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) who left the party with 10 other MPs following years-long tiff with its president Anwar Ibrahim, 72.
The Star online news reported on Monday (June 15) that the registration of the new party has “faced a little glitch at the Registrar of Societies (RoS)”, quoting an insider.
He said the new party had to be set up as some of the membership applications to join Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, now led by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, were still pending.
PKR has seen several defections of state assemblymen in the last three months, and the insider claimed more resignations of party leaders are expected.
“Most PKR leaders, who are Malays, will not go anywhere that does not allow them to bring their multi-racial associates with them,” the source told The Star.
Bersatu is a Malay-based party that was set up in 2016 to replace Malay nationalist party Umno.
A list of names of the purported new party’s leaders has been making its rounds on social media. One of the supposed names of the new party was Parti Negara (National Party).
The source said that if registration of the proposed new party failed to go through, these ex-PKR leaders and PKR leaders will opt for “Plan B” by joining a former multi-racial Barisan Nasional component party.
Amid the Anwar-Azmin tussle for control of PKR, there were rumours that some of its leaders would join Parti Gerakan, a former BN member which has no seats in the current Parliament.
“Whether it’s Plan A or Plan B, a big exodus can be expected from PKR soon, ” he added.
Datuk Seri Anwar’s fight with Mr Azmin is separate from Mr Anwar’s ongoing tussle with ex-premier Tun Mahathir Mohamad, 94, to control Malaysia’s opposition MPs, mostly grouped under Pakatan Harapan.
Mr Anwar’s bitter battles with Mr Azmin and Dr Mahathir were major causes for the collapse of the 21-month Pakatan Harapan (PH) government at the end of February.
Mr Azmin and his group of MPs left PKR to join up with a Bersatu faction led by its president Mr Muhyiddin, Umno, Parti Islam SeMalaysia, Gabungan Parti Sarawak and several smaller parties to form Perikatan Nasional, the alliance ruling South-east Asia’s third biggest economy.
PM Muhyiddin, 73, did not appoint a deputy prime minister when announcing his Cabinet in March but four ‘Senior Ministers’ including Mr Azmin.
But Mr Muhyiddin has said that when he is not in the country, Mr Azmin will chair the weekly Cabinet meetings, meaning the latter is the de-facto second in command in Malaysia.
