THE burgeoning Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN) partnership under the Unity Government may spell disaster for Perikatan Nasional (PN), a political analyst said.
Ilham Centre executive director Hisomuddin Bakar said if the PH-BN partnership continues into the next federal election, it would pose a serious threat to PN’s chances of retaining a number of the Malay-majority seats it currently holds.
Commenting on PH-BN’s success in Johor’s Mahkota by-election, Hisomuddin said if PH and BH can collaborate and contest the Malay-majority seats, without having to face each other, then PN will be in trouble.
The unity government could displace PN in certain Malay-majority seats if they have straightforward fights.
In the recent Mahkota by-election, PN’s Mohamad Haizan Jaafar suffered a crushing defeat to BN’s Syed Hussien Syed Abdullah, who won the seat with a landslide majority of 20,648.
Hisomuddin said he was not surprised that BN won the seat adding that unity in the PH-BN coalition, as well as their voters and supporters, ensured they scored a thumping victory.
“This by-election showed there was an absolute transfer of votes from PH to BN, which is key as it validates that PH voters can accept and cast their ballot for a BN candidate, who used to be their political nemesis,” he said.
Although PN has the Malay votes in the north and east coast regions, Hisomuddin said, they are unable to replicate that in the west or southern regions.
Even worse, Hisomuddin said, was that PN component parties, Gerakan and Malaysian Indian People Party (MIPP) are not doing enough to lure non-Malay voters to support the coalition.
“PN can no longer rely solely on Malay votes to win elections.
“They have to start putting more effort into winning votes among all other races, including Chinese and Indians.
“If not, it would be tough for the PN to win the mixed-majority seats, as there is already acceptance and transfer of voters between PH and BN. This was proven in the recent Mahkota by-election,” he said.
The Mahkota polls were the 10th by-election to be held after the 2022 general election.
By-elections were held for the Kuala Terengganu, Kemaman and Pulai parliamentary seats, and Simpang Jeram, Pelangai, Jepak, Kuala Kubu Baharu, Sungai Bakap and Nenggiri state seats.
Out of the 10 by-elections, the parties from the unity government alliance won Pulai, Simpang Jeram, Pelangai, Jepak, Kuala Kubu Baharu, Nenggiri and Mahkota while PN won the remaining three.
It was status quo in all the parliamentary and state elections held, except in Nenggiri where BN from the unity coalition won the seat held by PN’s component party, PAS. - October 2, 2024
