Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari’s offer to cooperate with any party ahead of GE16 is a tactical move to counter growing cooperation between Barisan Nasional and Perikatan Nasional, rather than a sign of any imminent political realignment, said an analyst.
PETALING JAYA: Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari’s offer to cooperate with any party ahead of GE16 is a tactical move to counter growing cooperation between Barisan Nasional and Perikatan Nasional, rather than a sign of any imminent political realignment, said an analyst.
Ilham Centre executive director Dr Hisommudin Bakar said Pakatan Harapan’s structural weakness, namely the absence of a Malay party capable of making significant inroads into the Malay voter segment, was the driving force behind the overture.
“The structural problem facing PH at present is quite clear. It does not have a Malay party that is truly capable of making significant inroads into the Malay voter segment.
“PKR still has its limitations, while Amanah has yet to develop a sufficiently broad grassroots base to counter the influence of Umno or PAS,” he told theSun.
Hisommudin said the experience of GE14 in 2018 may once again become a reference point, when PH’s cooperation with Bersatu provided an important bridge to the Malay voter segment that had previously been difficult for the Opposition to penetrate.
“Bersatu may not have been the biggest party in the coalition, but its presence helped provide Malay legitimacy to PH and opened up room for a significant shift in votes, resulting in BN being defeated for the first time in history.”
He said growing cooperation between BN and PN could leave PH with increasingly limited strategic options, particularly if the two blocs were able to avoid three-cornered contests and consolidate their support in Malay-majority and mixed seats.
He acknowledged that the memory of the Sheraton Move remained a major obstacle in terms of trust between the two sides, but said political necessity could yet override it.
“Politics ultimately moves according to necessity and survival. If BN-PN is increasingly close to forming a strong electoral bloc, PH and Bersatu may find their strategic options becoming increasingly limited.
“In such circumstances, cooperation need not necessarily arise from compatibility, but from the realisation that moving separately could cause both sides to face a greater defeat in GE16.”
When asked whether Amirudin’s offer could also be seen as a precursor to broader PH-Bersatu cooperation, he said the matter would ultimately have to be addressed by the top leadership of both parties.
