“Hey, you cannot vote for Bersama la, it will split votes for Pakatan Harapan and allow PAS to win.” This is the most common point I hear, especially from non-Malays.
But what if those votes are already gone? Then, there’s no “banana split” left to eat anyway, right?
I wish Harapan would instead have the confidence to say, “Choose our cuisine because it’s more delicious”, rather than the lame sales pitch of, “Ya, we know our dishes are rather stale, but you must still eat them, otherwise the Big Bad Wolf will eat you up.”
Such scare tactics are not very appetising. It’s similar to what Umno used to imply before: you’d better vote for us, or else there could be ”trouble”.
Targeting disillusioned supporters
I stood in the rain and trudged through muddy fields to attend Harapan rallies. The crowds there were excited by the hope of real change.
Now, many are angry at broken reformasi promises and won’t vote. Some even declared they will vote for PAS, just to spite Harapan.
What does the data tell us? Well, let’s take it from the horse’s mouth.
On May 5, 2026, PKR’s own leaked internal survey revealed only seven safe seats out of 66 nationwide.
The irony is, four of those seven seats are held by Rafizi Ramli or his allies. Even party president Anwar Ibrahim’s own Tambun seat is now hanging by a thread.
On May 8, 2026, Singapore’s Straits Times reported that DAP’s internal survey showed Harapan may suffer massive losses in Penang, winning just 23 of 40 state seats in a “worst-case scenario”.
In short, even before Rafizi’s new party, many votes have already evaporated into thin air – rather than being “split”.
Can Bersama capture that vapour of despair and condense it into liquid political assets?
That is their goal – to win support from disillusioned voters.
Rafizi claims a whopping 65 percent of Indians and 60 percent of Chinese are disillusioned with all three main political coalitions – Harapan, BN, and Perikatan Nasional.
Among Malay voters, support was split into four groups, with Harapan, BN, and PN each having 21-25 percent support, while 32 percent were “seeking an alternative”.
That's a huge market ripe for capturing.
Harapan’s record in Selangor
As DAP’s “make or break” July congress looms, they may weigh whether it’s worth going down with the sinking Anwar boat.
I am rather sad that DAP, which has done a decent job in Penang (despite being developer-friendly), may be dragged down by the albatross called Parti Koyak Reformasi.
But I am rather ambivalent about DAP’s record in Selangor. My last column was on the three “own goals” scored by the Harapan state government.
They were:
the excuse that “no land” was available for a public hospital in Petaling Jaya,
the new restrictions on non-Muslim houses of worship,
the cheap sale of forested land in Puchong.
Obviously, most blame goes to PKR Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari, who is in charge of land matters. But why didn’t DAP speak out more?
After a massive uproar, the land was suddenly “found” to build the hospital in just five days. This proves that public pressure works!
There was massive online outrage. As for politicians, it was left to “outsiders” like Petaling Jaya MP Lee Chean Chung (Rafizi’s group) and Charles Santiago (whom DAP kicked out of the Klang seat) to speak up.
To be fair, DAP’s Bukit Gasing assemblyperson Rajiv Rishyakaran has been pushing for the PJ Hospital for years.
Yet, he was strangely silent when Amirudin gave his pathetic “no land” excuse.
Elephants fighting, kancil enters
Bersama has decent odds, especially when other parties are battling each other. For starters, Umno has betrayed Harapan in Negeri Sembilan and Johor.
On May 17, Johor Harapan chief Aminolhuda Hassan sounded the battle cry to “bury” Umno in the upcoming state election.
Meanwhile, the Malay parties are fighting each other like a WWE wrestling match gone out of control.
Umno and PAS got “married” in Muafakat Nasional and then divorced amid accusations of “infidelity” involving Bersatu.
After Bersatu chief Muhyiddin Yasin expelled his deputy Hamzah Zainudin, now PAS wants to do a “smack down” on Bersatu, to borrow WWE lingo.
This was after the so-called “betrayals” in Perlis and Negeri Sembilan.
As the elephants are busy in combat, the small “kancil party” of Bersama can sneak in some wins.
Bersama doesn’t even need to win a majority. If it can win 15-25 of the 111 mixed-race seats from Kedah to Johor, it can be a powerful pressure group.
This is because our fragmented politics means there probably won’t be a clear winner at the next general election.
Even just nine PKR MPs of Rafizi’s team were enough to pressure Anwar to U-turn on the controversial appointment of Ahmad Terrirudin Salleh as the new chief justice of Malaya.
They called for a royal commission of inquiry to avoid a repeat of the infamous “correct, correct, correct” VK Lingam scandal.
Similarly, eight Rafizi-aligned PKR MPs, plus civil society protests, helped stop the reign of tainted MACC chief Azam Baki.
Thus, a small group of say 20 Bersama MPs can achieve a lot, perhaps by cooperating with other parties after elections – but with strict conditions.
“Issues of racism, minority hatred, repeal of repressive laws... these have to be spelt out extremely clearly,” said Rafizi of any possible future alliances, as these items were not listed in the Harapan-BN agreement to form the Madani government.
In other words, instead of Umno pulling Harapan by the nose, Bersama will instead be insisting on real reforms.
Yet many voters are still hostage to PAS-phobia. They may miss more delicious meals, as they cling to their lukewarm, tasteless dishes.
Let’s draw inspiration from the renowned American anthropologist Margaret Mead, who said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” - Mkini
ANDREW SIA is a veteran journalist who likes teh tarik khau kurang manis. You are welcome to give him ideas to brew at tehtarik@gmail.com.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
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