PAS is going to decide on the status of its relationship with Bersatu tomorrow, but we already know today what its decision is going to be.
“It will be tomorrow, God willing, Monday. We will have a meeting at night,” PAS president Hadi Awang told reporters today.
He was replying to the question as to when the party leadership would meet to determine the future of PAS-Bersatu ties.
Although PAS is only going to make an announcement tomorrow, we have known for a long time what its decision is going to be — its decision will be to break up with Bersatu.
Why?
Because there is absolutely no reason whatsoever for PAS to continue maintaining its relationship with Bersatu.
The PAS-Bersatu relationship is like the relationship between a wife and a husband who doesn't do his husbandly duty.
Because of that, the wife has to do everything — including going to work and giving allowance to the husband.
As the husband, not only does Bersatu fail to do its husbandly duty, it often squanders the allowance that PAS gives it. Bersatu had 31 MPs after GE15. Today, it has just 19. If you consider that a number of the 19 MPs it still has are loyal to ousted Bersatu leader Hamzah Zainuddin, it likely has fewer than 19.
Bersatu won many of the 31 seats it had because it was supported by PAS. That it keeps squandering the seats PAS won for it must surely grate on PAS immensely.
Worse, despite not bringing anything to the table and squandering what PAS gives it, Bersatu still insists that it is the “husband” in the relationship and expects PAS to always walk behind it.
Considering that, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever why PAS should accept this absurd, meaningless, and burdensome relationship with Bersatu.
If PAS has accepted the relationship with Bersatu so far, it is likely because it is thinking about “what people will say” and the “common property.”
The common property that PAS has with Bersatu is the brand name Perikatan Nasional, or PN. PN is a valuable brand name. Together with BN and PH, it is one of the three big brand names in Semenanjung politics.
If PAS breaks up with Bersatu, Bersatu might keep the brand name PN for itself, or at least not allow PAS to use it. This would be a significant loss to PAS.
As for the “what people will say” part, PAS is probably worried about whether voters will accept it as a ruling party or a national party without the support of Bersatu.
Although PAS is the biggest single political party in the country, it does not have the confidence to rule the country.
There is only one party in the country that is confident of leading the country, and that party is Umno. Parties like PKR and Bersatu are also confident of their ability to lead the country because they trace their origins to Umno.
Parties that do not trace their origins to Umno — be it PAS, DAP, or the parties in GPS — are simply not confident about their ability to rule the country, even if they have more seats than Umno.
So what does it mean that PAS is going to decide on the status of its relationship with Bersatu tomorrow?
Well, it basically means that: 1) PAS has made its decision on what it is going to do with the brand name PN, and 2) it has either found the confidence to lead the country on its own or it has found another party led by a leader who originated from Umno.
There are likely two things that PAS could have decided regarding the brand name PN.
One, PAS might decide to forfeit it. Instead of running under the brand name PN, in the coming general election, it might decide to run under its own name, or perhaps some other brand.
Two, it might have found a way to use the PN brand name even after it divorces Bersatu. We shall find out tomorrow which is the case.
Other than that, with Dr Ahmad Samsuri as its poster boy, PAS might have also found the confidence to lead the country on its own capacity.
Either that, or it has struck an agreement with Hamzah Zainuddin, the ousted former Bersatu number two, and will cooperate with Hamzah and his yet-to-be-announced political vehicle to form a post-PN alliance that is able to convince voters to give it a chance to lead the country.
We are not likely going to know which is the case tomorrow, but either one — or both — is most certainly the case, since PAS has decided to finally divorce Bersatu tomorrow.
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