Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani of ADA Southeast Asia said PSM has had to wrestle with this conundrum in the lead up to every general election — given its modest presence relative to other major coalitions.
An alliance with Pakatan Rakyat saw party chairman Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj elected Sungai Siput MP in 2008 and 2013 on a PKR ticket.
However, a breakdown in the alliance led PSM to contest independently in both the 2018 and 2022 general elections, but failing to secure a single seat in either.
“This is an existential question that PSM faces before every general election: whether to stick to its principles or become more pragmatic.
“The more important question is whether a step towards pragmatism would actually yield the desired result,” Asrul told FMT.
He said PSM should, if it chooses to forge a pact with PN, negotiate for a “safe” parliamentary seat in the next general election, to prevent it from being sidelined within the opposition coalition.
“PN must guarantee PSM a safe federal seat if the party is even to consider forming a pact; otherwise, the party risks becoming another Gerakan within the coalition — present but politically irrelevant.”
Asrul, however, believes that PSM should focus on building close relationships with other groups and political parties that operate outside the country’s dominant coalitions.
These ties would allow greater room for shared values and mutual growth, he added.
PSM initially declined to join the loose opposition coalition announced by Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin two months ago, citing its discomfort with the racial rhetoric tendencies of some of the parties within the group.
Others in the coalition include PAS, Pejuang, Putra, Berjasa, Muda, Urimai, the Malaysian Advancement Party and the National Indian Muslim Alliance Party, also known as Iman.
Perak PSM leader K Kunasekaran recently expressed support for the proposed pact, arguing it would help to avoid electoral clashes with fellow opposition parties. He insisted that such cooperation was unlikely to compromise the party’s socialist ideals.
Jeyakumar said the matter will be discussed by the party’s central committee meeting.
Akademi Nusantara’s Azmi Hassan, however, took the opposite view.
He said PSM would likely have to compromise on its socialist principles, given the party’s ideological stance is “totally” at odds with the Malay-Muslim centric platforms of PAS and Bersatu.
However, he acknowledged that PSM would stand to reap some political benefits from a tie-up, especially since going solo would likely result in emphatic defeats at the polls.
“As it is, they’re not going anywhere. They’re not shaping up to be a party that can influence the national political scenario. So it’s going to be a very difficult decision to make,” said Azmi.
However, he said PSM would struggle to justify a formal alliance to its core supporters, and may instead have to settle for a loose “understanding” on seat allocations.
“PSM needs PN support, not so much the other way around … because PSM’s supporters are quite limited and are concentrated in just one or two constituencies.”
Azmi said another option PSM could explore would be to rekindle its past relationship with PH, which, he said aligned more closely with the party’s socialist principles.
“Even Umno is more in the middle ground and less extreme compared with PAS,” he said.