Sticking with PN will cost PAS in GE15, says analyst

 

The Melaka and Johor election results should convince PAS leaders that being in PN is of no advantage to them.

PETALING JAYA: An analyst predicts that PAS will pay a price in the next general election if it continues to work with Perikatan Nasional (PN).

Azmi Hassan of Akademi Nusantara said PAS’ current association with PN was damaging the party.

“If the Melaka and Johor election outcomes cannot persuade PAS leaders that being in PN is of no advantage to them, I do not know what else can convince them,” he told FMT.

PAS lost all eight seats it vied for in the Melaka election last year and won only one of 14 contests in the Johor polls last March.

Referring to PAS’ strained ties with Umno in the Muafakat Nasional (MN) pact after it joined PN, Azmi alleged that the party’s top leaders were not willing to admit they had made a mistake because they had let their egos get the better of them.

PAS signed the MN charter with Umno in 2019 but officially joined PN last August.

Azmi said PAS, if it remained in PN for GE15, would lose some of the parliamentary seats it currently held as Umno was getting stronger in Kedah and Terengganu. But it might retain those seats if it decided to work with Umno and Umno was agreeable, he added.

Kuala Nerus MP Khairuddin Aman Razali, who quit PAS last March, recently said his former party must acknowledge its role in the failure of the MN alliance.

He said MN would work as an alliance if Umno and PAS formally agreed to cooperate and if negotiations for seats did not stop midway.

Another analyst, Lee Kuok Tiung of Universiti Malaysia Sabah, said PAS could not survive alone and it was best for it to remain with PN since Umno might no longer want to work with it.

He said it was better for Umno to work with its partners in Barisan Nasional than with PAS.

“BN’s defeat in GE14 was linked to rumours that Umno had secretly collaborated with PAS,” he said. “Not everyone can accept the Islamic ideology of PAS.” - FMT