Bersatu can’t afford open contests with PAS on the rise, says analyst

James Chin says Muhyiddin Yassin’s ‘formula’ will minimise the risk of Bersatu having a smaller voice in Perikatan Nasional.

(FMT) – A political analyst expects the majority of Bersatu’s leaders and members to go along with party president Muhyiddin Yassin’s “formula” for the coming party polls to prevent PAS from further dominating Perikatan Nasional (PN).

James Chin of the University of Tasmania said Bersatu would avoid allowing open contests for top posts to keep party unity intact, as it knew it risked having a smaller voice in PN if it suffered more “problems”.

Having seen six of its MPs pledging support for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, he said, Bersatu would be “quite afraid” of losing out on a bigger scale in the next general election.

“It is very difficult for Bersatu to have open contests (for the top party positions) as the party is already quite weak, simply because PAS is just overwhelming.

“Bersatu knows that if there is any problem, it will be sidelined further. It already knows that PAS has the upper hand, so a lot of them are afraid that PAS will overwhelm Bersatu in the next general election,” Chin told FMT.

On July 13, Muhyiddin said he did not expect Bersatu’s top posts to be contested in the party elections in October thanks to negotiations at the leadership level.

The former prime minister also revealed his “formula” for the party polls, which would see deputy president Ahmad Faizal Azumu making way for secretary-general Hamzah Zainudin to take over the post.

Hamzah’s current post will be offered to Selangor opposition leader Azmin Ali, while Faizal will run for one of the three vice-president’s posts instead.

While party vice-president Ronald Kiandee played this down as a mere suggestion, Bersatu’s youth wing and six of its state chapters backed the plan, saying it would promote unity and ensure stability in the party.

Akademi Nusantara’s Azmi Hassan agreed that Muhyiddin’s plan would ensure stability in Bersatu, but said that the party’s leadership issues would remain.

Azmi said Bersatu’s main challenge was the lack of inspiring leadership from Muhyiddin, whom he described as having lost the capability to project a vision for his party.

“Yes, the party’s stability would be more intact than it would be if there was competition (for the top posts), but the problem is that the arrangement doesn’t change Bersatu’s leadership much. Muhyiddin is still there.

“I think bringing Hamzah in won’t significantly change the lack of confidence in the party leadership among members. In fact, I think it will create more dissatisfaction among them despite creating stability,” he said.

Chin however said that Bersatu members had probably found the new pecking order of Muhyiddin, followed by Hamzah and then Azmin, “acceptable”.

“It’s a more or less acceptable formula in that most people think Hamzah has more support, followed by Azmin,” he said.

While certain factions were likely to be unhappy with Muhyiddin’s leadership “formula”, he said, they would probably lack the support to force open contests for the top posts.

Meanwhile, Azmil Tayeb of Universiti Sains Malaysia said Bersatu should open up its top posts to contest and leave it to party members to vote for their preferred leaders.

“This will give Bersatu democratic credibility,” he said. However, he said Muhyiddin’s plan was not surprising as Bersatu was a splinter party of Umno’s and “still retained its culture”.

Umno had a similar “no-contest” situation after its 2022 general assembly approved a motion for the posts of president and deputy president to go uncontested at the 2023 party elections.