As Hadi makes room for Hamzah, should Bersatu stay or leave PN?

 Does Bersatu still want to be PAS’s main partner in Perikatan Nasional, or move on to Muhyiddin Yassin’s loose Ikatan Prihatin Rakyat coalition?

About a month ago, while the Aidilfitri festivities were still in full swing, Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin paid Abdul Hadi Awang a visit at the PAS supremo’s home in Marang, Terengganu.

Two months prior, Hamzah Zainudin had afternoon tea with Hadi at the same location. That happened on Feb 13, hours after Hamzah was sacked as a Bersatu member and its deputy president.

Both meetings can now be interpreted as holding greater political meaning.

Initially, Muhyiddin’s visit was touted as a display of the cohesiveness of the PAS-Bersatu alliance. A Terengganu Bersatu leader even described it as Perikatan Nasional (PN) making a key step towards taking over Putrajaya in the next general election (GE16).

However, last Friday, Hadi announced that PAS was to reassess its cooperation with Bersatu and gave a stern warning that “patience has its limits”.

What a major change in tone. It was a public warning issued by PN’s strongest party to a partner that has been wrestling with itself.

One of the reasons for Hadi’s stinging statement is Bersatu supposedly blocking efforts to accept new parties into PN, when the coalition’s supreme council met on May 16.

Several parties have applied to become components, namely Berjasa, Mukhriz Mahathir’s Pejuang, Ibrahim Ali’s Putra and the National Indian Muslim Alliance Party, or Iman.

Bersatu was purportedly fearful that one of these parties would become Hamzah’s new “home” and serve as his means to get back into PN, for which he had served as deputy chairman and secretary-general prior to his sacking by Bersatu.

Although Hadi didn’t mention Hamzah’s name at his press conference, the whole room could read Hadi’s signs. The Marang MP wasn’t just asking for PN’s door to be opened to other parties, he was reminding Bersatu that PN isn’t the exclusive right of any one party.

Hadi’s words gave the impression that PAS doesn’t want to be held hostage by Bersatu’s fears. In simple terms, PAS may have been asking this: why should PN lose Hamzah just because Muhyiddin doesn’t want to make room?

It’s weightier now that PAS is the dominant party in PN. In the 2022 general election, the Islamic party won 43 parliamentary seats, the highest by a single party and significantly more than Bersatu’s 31.

After multiple dramatic episodes of shifts in support, sackings and suspensions, Bersatu is left with 19 MPs, of whom only five are sticking by Muhyiddin, the Pagoh MP.

Hadi may be inclined to make room for Hamzah because the former Bersatu deputy president brings with him political networks, administrative experience, grassroots connections and a Bersatu faction who have lost confidence in Muhyiddin.

In Malay politics, especially coalition politics like PN, numbers and machinery hold greater importance over nostalgia.

PAS knows Bersatu has built a name for itself, but that name won’t be enough if the party splits from within.

Whither now Bersatu?

Does this spell Bersatu’s end? That’s uncertain. If there’s one thing undeniable about Muhyiddin, it’s that he is able to cling on and endure when others think he has reached his end.

Muhyiddin has faced similar tumult in Umno, having been sacked as deputy president, but he bounced back by co-founding Bersatu.

He also had a hand in the fall of three prime ministers: Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Najib Razak and Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Hamzah’s sacking also showed that Muhyiddin is still a shrewd tactician capable of reading the play of those out to oust him.

But Muhyiddin’s strength as a political player doesn’t necessarily reflect Bersatu’s strength as a party. This is where Bersatu is in a tough spot.

Taking tough action on Hamzah meant losing a leader and supporter who had essentially become the pulse of the party. But going too soft on Hamzah would have made Muhyiddin look like he was submitting to a new political rival who emerged from within his own “home”.

If the PAS-Bersatu relationship does actually come to an end, Muhyiddin still has Ikatan Prihatin Rakyat (IPR) to fall back on.

This loose coalition that he founded appears to be quite a serious affair, with its first convention set for June 27.

In fact, Muhyiddin said in March that IPR needs to grow into a “more meaningful relationship” among like-minded parties ahead of GE16.

That was a signal that Muhyiddin had prepared a second umbrella, just in case PN is no longer as comfortable a platform for Bersatu.

But the road ahead won’t be easy.

Without PAS, IPR may have many parties, but it will lack the Islamic party’s highly organised machinery. The presence of many different logos doesn’t guarantee votes, especially if voters still see PAS as the backbone of the opposition bloc.

That’s why Bersatu’s dilemma right now isn’t about accepting or rejecting Hamzah.

The real question is whether Bersatu still wants to be PAS’s main partner in PN or move on and become one of the many parties in Muhyiddin’s loose coalition.

With this in mind, Hamzah’s afternoon tea with Hadi on Feb 13 may have been more than just a friendly visit on the day he was sacked from Bersatu.

It may have been the beginnings of a new political alignment in the opposition.

While Muhyiddin came to Marang two months later to show that PAS-Bersatu ties were intact, Hamzah was at Hadi’s table much earlier, establishing himself as a character who just cannot be sidelined.

If it’s true Hadi wants to open PN’s door to Hamzah, then that cup of tea in Marang may have been more meaningful than any official PN meeting. - FMT

The writer is the editor of FMT’s Malay News Desk.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.