Lim said any swing in Malay votes would depend on how well Pakatan Harapan (PH) uses former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to its advantage.

“I do not think the provisional dissolution really has an effect on the rural Malay voters. I think Mahathir is the single most important factor in the swing voters in Malay areas,” he told reporters after a forum titled “GE14: Will the Malay Ground Shift” at the Penang Institute last night.

Lim, a former World Bank economist, was asked to comment on how the provisional dissolution of PPBM would affect the way rural Malay voters vote.

RoS had earlier slapped a “provisional dissolution” on PPBM, citing the party’s failure to furnish documents and details within the stipulated period.

This followed an earlier notice by RoS for PPBM to submit minutes of its branch, divisional and central leadership meetings, as part of the investigation into hundreds of complaints filed by PPBM members.

The party, formed in 2016 after the fallout between Prime Minister Najib Razak and his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin, has been given a month to furnish more documents to RoS, failing which it could be permanently deregistered.

Activist Adam Adli, who was a panellist at the forum, said with PPBM’s provisional dissolution, the party was now left with no choice but to campaign under the PKR banner.

“Suddenly you will see more PKR flags in Malay areas, which is not really smart as you are promoting a more moderate value of Malay politics among the Malays.

“Of course, PPBM will go out and campaign as PKR. They started out with their own hibiscus flag, now they have to change to and promote this other familiar flag.

“All this while, people have been fearing PKR because they are somewhat like DAP, quite liberal. But now the likes of Muhyiddin, who himself is very Malay, are going out and promoting a flag that promotes social justice,” he said.

Adam believed that PKR stood to gain from what had happened to PPBM.

“For PKR, people have always been poking around saying that PPBM will become more dominant than they are, like how Mahathir has been nominated as prime minister-designate. All this while, it (the post of prime minister) has always been reserved for PKR, and suddenly it is now in the hands of PPBM, a newcomer.

“But PPBM has no other choice. It will be a huge loss, demoralising for PPBM not to be able to use their own flag.”

He added however that PPBM had anticipated the dissolution as the party had been having problems with RoS.

“Worse comes to worse, they will go out and campaign with the PKR flag.”