PAS has more to gain should MN be resuscitated, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s Mazlan Ali said. The electoral pact was forged between the two biggest Malay parties in 2019.
Mazlan said PAS had limited influence in villages and Felda settlements, especially in the west coast and southern peninsular states. “Umno can help boost support for PAS in Melaka, Negeri Sembilan and Johor,” he told FMT.
Mazlan also said that Umno had the upper hand compared to Bersatu, the Islamic party’s current ally in Perikatan Nasional.
“Umno still has its fixed deposit supporters among the Malays and also has a stronger party machinery compared to Bersatu, which relies on the PAS machinery.”
However plans to revive MN could be scuttled at seat negotiations for the next general election, as PAS and Umno traditionally vie for the same seats.
On Saturday, Umno youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh said his party and PAS must work towards uniting the Malays through MN. His push for cooperation with PAS comes in the wake of a call by PAS election director Sanusi Nor to revive MN ahead of the next general election.
MN was formed to consolidate the Malay-Muslim vote when Umno and PAS were in the opposition. The pact fell apart after PAS formed Perikatan Nasional with Bersatu. PAS insisted that Bersatu be included in MN, but Umno was opposed to the idea.
The PAS push for MN’s revival was more about political survival rather than expansion, says Azmi Hassan of Akademi Nusantara.
He said PAS leaders were quite desperate to leave PN or Bersatu. “And they know that they need a partner.”
Azmi also said Umno, via BN, was able to attract non-Malay voters, which he added was what PAS needed, as the party’s weakness was its lack of support from non-Malay voters.
“In terms of securing more votes (from non-Malay voters), Umno is miles ahead of PAS,” he said.
In September, PAS Youth said that Malaysia’s plural society meant that non-Malays would be kingmakers in certain parliamentary seats during elections, a reality which the party could not escape.
On potential backlash, Azmi said a revival of MN would not hurt PAS as there would “not be any negative impact, but only positive ones.”
“Even for PAS voters, they have no problem supporting Umno in this particular case because both are Malay-based parties.”