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A political party now sharing power with Umno in the government faces potential banishment to the cross-benches, being sidelined by both government and the opposition.

Bersatu is an embattled party. Its future depends upon cooperation with either Umno or Pakatan Harapan to survive the coming general election. Alone, Bersatu will struggle to survive.

The prime reason Bersatu became a political party was because of then deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s sacking by former prime minister Najib Razak over his criticism of Najib and the 1MDB issue.

Muhyiddin was soon joined by Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his son, Mukhriz, after expulsion from Umno.

With support from DAP, PKR and Amanah under the umbrella of PH, the grouping defeated Najib and the Barisan Nasional at the 2018 general election.

During the election campaign, Mahathir hammered the 1MDB issue and Najib’s corruption across the Malay heartlands and Bersatu managed to win 13 of the 50 seats it contested.

Bersatu was able to grow its parliamentary numbers through party defections, increasing to 32 federal MPs, primarily from Umno, along with the ex-PKR Azmin Ali group.

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PAS says no to PN working with PH

PETALING JAYA: PAS has turned down the premise of working under a “big tent” with opposition parties in the coming general election (GE15), though it will continue to maintain its partnerships under Perikatan Nasional and Muafakat Nasional.

PAS vice-president Idris Ahmad said the party’s leadership had not specifically discussed the formation of a larger political cooperation with Pakatan Harapan to face GE15 and did not plan to do so.

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