James Chin of the University of Tasmania said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim may choose to pursue more conservative policies to gain political support of PN voters at the expense of his progressive voter base.

“He has to move further to the right with more Islamic and pro-Malay policies. This could be bad because it might mean he will isolate or disappoint PH supporters.

“But with this sort of results, he really has no choice,” Chin told FMT.

In the state elections, Perikatan Nasional won 80% of the seats contested by BN, while making major inroads in traditional PH strongholds.

Oh Ei Sun of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs said PN’s strong performance, including in Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Penang, meant that it can be expected to come back stronger in the next general election.

With PN dominating over Umno, Oh said, the coalition could employ the narrative that the majority of the Malays in the country are on its side, and not on the side of the Anwar-led government.

This could pose a problem for the federal government, he said.

“For example, if you keep on (playing this narrative) to MPs currently supporting the unity government, their support might be shaky and they might swing (their support) to PN,” he said.

For now, although Umno’s position within the federal government has been “dented”, it is still secure, as PH needs the party despite its dwindling Malay support.

Editor’s Note: The headline and the first two paragraphs of the article has been amended to better reflect what was meant by the analyst.