PAS seen as giving priority to PN after snubbing IPR meeting

 Analysts say PAS is not interested in the loose alliance that is Muhyiddin Yassin's brainchild.

PAS is the dominant member of Perikatan Nasional while IPR is a loose coalition of parties outside the government bloc.

PETALING JAYA:

 PAS has sent a clear message that it wants Perikatan Nasional to be the main platform for the opposition after snubbing a meeting held by the loose coalition Ikatan Prihatin Rakyat (IPR), says an analyst.

Syaza Shukri of the International Islamic University Malaysia said she believed PAS wanted to avoid the perception that the opposition had two sets of leaderships.

Syaza Shukri.

“It would definitely be awkward if PAS doesn’t join IPR since PAS is the largest opposition party and IPR is being touted as a loose coalition comprising parties outside the government bloc.

“The current situation makes it look like there are two heads in the opposition bloc, when the component parties of PN and IPR are more or less the same,” she told FMT.

IPR is the brainchild of Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin, who stepped down as PN chairman on Jan 1.

It also includes Gerakan, the Malaysian Indian People’s Party, Pejuang, Muda, Urimai, Putra, Berjasa, the Malaysian Advancement Party and the National Indian Muslim Alliance Party.

Bersatu secretary-general Azmin Ali chaired a meeting on Thursday with the secretaries-general and representatives of parties in IPR in preparation for its first convention in June.

However, PAS appeared to have skipped the meeting although a nameplate was prepared for the party’s secretary-general, Takiyuddin Hassan.

Takiyuddin is also PN secretary-general, a post he was appointed to after PAS vice-president Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar took over the PN chairmanship in February.

PAS had also skipped an IPR meeting chaired by Muhyiddin in January, at the height of the dispute over the PN chairmanship.

Behind Bersatu’s IPR push

With PAS firmly in the driver’s seat in PN, Syaza said Muhyiddin and those aligned with him could be trying to make the IPR alliance the dominant opposition force instead of PN.

She said PAS joined the previous IPR meetings when Muhyiddin was still PN chairman.

Mazlan Ali.

On the other hand, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s Mazlan Ali said PAS was signalling its preference for a Malay-Muslim-centric political narrative instead of a broader approach being attempted through IPR.

Mazlan said the repeated PAS absence at IPR meetings reflected its lack of interest in taking the initiative further.

“I expect the IPR convention to fall flat without PAS present because most of the parties in IPR are small entities that do not have a major footprint in the national political landscape.

“Nonetheless, this initiative by Muhyiddin is good as it ultimately aims to woo non-Malay support for PN,” he said. - FMT