PH working with Bersatu will only ‘antagonise’ Umno, says analyst

 

A reconciliation between Anwar Ibrahim and Azmin Ali is unlikely as the wounds caused by the Sheraton Move are ‘too recent and raw’, an analyst said.

PETALING JAYA: An analyst has shot down former law minister Zaid Ibrahim’s proposal that Pakatan Harapan forge an alliance with Bersatu before the 16th general election (GE16), saying it would likely “antagonise” Umno.

Chin Yee Mun.

Chin Yee Mun of Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman said PH would need to consider whether cooperation with Bersatu at the next general election, due by 2027, would be a “rewarding move”.

“Will working together with Bersatu benefit PH? As things stand now, it may antagonise Umno.

“The coalition must think about what to do with Umno first. Will working together with Bersatu outweigh the benefit of working together with Umno?” he told FMT.Chin also questioned how Umno leaders would react if PH chose to work with Bersatu. “As we all know, both Bersatu and Umno target the same segment of voters.”

Last Saturday Zaid, who had spells with PKR and DAP before returning to Umno, said PH should be able to forge an alliance with Bersatu before GE16 given that the coalition is able to work with Umno.

He also proposed that Bersatu Supreme Council member Azmin Ali be named menteri besar of the “prized takeaway”, Selangor.

However, Chin questioned whether PH would benefit from working with Azmin at GE16.

“Despite being a heavyweight, Azmin won the Hulu Kelang seat but with a relatively small majority. If the decision of whether to work with him is based on his ability to win a seat per se, the benefit is uncertain,” he said.

Azmil Tayeb.

Azmin racked up 25,597 votes at the polls, defeating PH’s Juwairiya Zulkifli by 1,617 votes.

In contrast, Chin said PH’s success in retaining control of its stronghold Selangor in the 2023 state election was proof it could succeed even without an alliance with Bersatu.

PH and Barisan Nasional currently hold 34 of the 56 seats in the state assembly.

On March 6, they took control of an additional seat after Bersatu’s Selat Klang assemblyman Abdul Rashid Asari declared his support for Selangor menteri besar Amirudin Shari.

“At the end of the day, politicians are realists. They champion idealism but they make their move according to pragmatism,” said Chin.

Meanwhile, Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Azmil Tayeb dismissed the likelihood of Umno joining forces with Bersatu as slim, saying “there is too much bad blood” between the parties.

Bersatu, then with former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad as its chairman, broke away from Umno in 2016. It was a PH component in the 2018 general election (GE 14), but quit the coalition during the Sheraton Move, in which Azmin was instrumental.

Azmil was not optimistic about a reconciliation between Anwar and Azmin taking place anytime soon, saying the wounds caused by the Sheraton Move were still “too recent and raw”.

The Sheraton Move in 2020 saw BN, Bersatu, PAS, GPS and a PKR faction led by Azmin, then the party’s deputy president, joining forces to topple the PH government.

To suggest that PH should make way for Azmin to be the menteri besar candidate for Selangor would be like “rewarding him for his betrayal”, Azmil said. - FMT