PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin is reportedly set to launch the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, this Saturday as the state gears up for elections on Sept 26.
Quoting sources, Singapore’s Straits Times (ST) said former PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali officially joining PPBM last weekend was the last major move for Muhyiddin in launching the coalition.
A PPBM leader told ST that PN will consist of up to six component parties and will also be using their own logo in the Sabah state elections.
He added that it was up to Umno whether it wanted to follow suit and use the PN logo as well.
Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi previously said the party would not be joining PN although it would continue to support the coalition to form federal government as well as several state administrations.
Last week, PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan confirmed that the Islamist party was part of a pro tem committee with PPBM to officially register PN as a coalition.
Other parties which have officially joined PN includes Jeffrey Kitingan’s STAR and MIC. PAS is part of Muafakat Nasional with Umno, while MIC is a component party of Barisan Nasional (BN).
ST said PBS and PBRS are also set to join the coalition before the launch on Saturday as PN makes a bid to takeover the Sabah government from Warisan.
PN sources also told ST that for seat negotiations, they had agreed that the 113 Malay-majority constituencies under the coalition would belong to the parties of the sitting MPs, although “swaps” could be discussed.
“Umno can perhaps demand for seats won by Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s faction,” the PN leader said. “But with PPBM now a multiracial party, Umno has less claim over mixed areas that it has traditionally handed to BN allies anyway.”
ST also said Azmin’s faction of former PKR MPs had increased efforts to bring over more PH MPs to PN, now that PPBM allows non-Malays to become associate members in the party.
Muhyiddin also recently said PPBM might amend its constitution to allow non-Malays to hold leadership positions in the party. - FMT
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