According to an editorial in the East Asia Forum, the rule of Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) could be extended for many years if the Umno-PAS deal works.
However, this agreement portends ill for the non-Malay minorities and liberal Muslims, as Umno will be increasingly dependent on PAS and will need to dance to the Islamist party’s tune, it said.
The editorial said Prime Minister Najib Razak would almost certainly survive the 1MDB scandal unscathed if Umno’s understanding with PAS holds, and if its manoeuvring to drive a wedge between the opposition parties continues to succeed.
The editorial added that if Umno continued down its current path under Najib, the losers would be the people of Malaysia, as the post-independence dream of a secular, pluralist and democratic nation would drift further out of sight.
Speaking to FMT, Kamarul Zaman Yusoff of Universiti Utara Malaysia said PAS has its own political, economical and social policies which differed in many ways from those of Umno.
“The hostility between a lot of PAS and Umno members, especially at the grassroots, is also too long and too intense for them to work together in the upcoming election.
“A lot of PAS members will not vote for Umno’s candidates and Umno members will not vote for PAS candidates.
“Furthermore, PAS and Umno working together, inside or outside BN, will face very strong resistance from non-Malay BN coalition partners and those from Sabah and Sarawak.
“That renders such an arrangement quite impossible,” he said, adding that Umno could not afford to lose the support of their partners, especially in Sabah and Sarawak.
However, Kamarul said, in the event of a deadlock in the outcome of GE14, there was a possibility of Umno and PAS working together out of necessity.
If such an outcome arises, there is little reason for Umno’s BN partners to continue resisting such a deal, he added.
Having said that, he cited Pakatan Harapan chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s claim that PAS could also be seen as helping Umno by default if it contests on its own without lining up with other opposition parties.
Kamarul said PAS leaders themselves were quite confident of winning on their own, which could be seen in their attitudes.
“They are in fact quite ambitious to rule Malaysia. This is evident in the latest disclosure of its president in Marang on Dec 16 that PAS will contest in 130 seats, which is more than half of the existing 222 seats.
“I don’t see BN and PAS being able to work together to face GE14.”