Umno-Bersatu-PAS partnership a dimming dream, say analysts

They say the three parties will not be able to cooperate as each wants to be the leading voice of the Malay community.

(FMT) – A union of Umno, Bersatu and PAS may be a dimming dream, given the three parties’ ongoing competition to be the leading voice of the Malay community, say analysts.

Lau Zhe Wei of International Islamic University of Malaysia said such a tie-up may not even be relevant to the political situation today as any Malay party that takes the government needs to be able to cooperate with non-Malay parties.

He said should such a tie-up occur, the leading party would “drown out non-Malay voices”.

“The question is whether these three Malay parties can still cooperate. The answer is no, because each of them wants to be the leader,” he told FMT.

Lau pointed to the PAS-Umno tie-up in the now-defunct Muafakat Nasional, and PAS and Bersatu in Perikatan Nasional, which came from PAS’s “willingness to be number two”.

He said PAS has shown potential to be a leader among the Malay parties and to nominate a prime minister candidate.

“The question now is how such a partnership among the three parties can exist,” he said.

In an interview with Utusan yesterday, Bersatu Supreme Council member Redzuan Yusof had floated the idea of seeing Malay parties under one banner.

However, Umno Supreme Council member Puad Zarkashi called the idea “stale”, saying the opportunity for it had passed.

Umno and PAS formed MN in 2019 as an electoral pact with the main aim of uniting the Malay-Muslim vote, but it collapsed after PAS chose to work with Bersatu, which Umno viewed as a betrayal.

National Professors Council fellow Azmi Hassan also said the idea was “rather impossible”, given that MN had not lasted long and cannot return especially with the presence of parties such as Bersatu.

He said such an effort would need a neutral figure at its helm that could restore Malay unity.

“The suggestion may be ideal but requires a certain strength, as not a single party is dominant in the current politically chaotic situation,” he said.