If you 'starve' Bersatu, hardline PAS will prosper - analyst

A weaker Bersatu might not necessarily help the coalition government, instead, it could give PAS a further boost within Perikatan Nasional, warned political scientist Wong Chin Huat.

Speaking at a Malaysiakini forum yesterday, Wong repeated Bersih’s call for constituency development funds, saying that “starving the opposition” could have the effect of weakening Bersatu but strengthening PAS.

“If you starve the opposition, only hardliners will survive. This is because hardliners have ideology to back them up and we will get the worst kind of opposition.

“If this government continues to try and break Bersatu by withholding constituency development funds, you know what will happen? PAS will become the strongest party.

“In one election’s time PAS will become the anchor party of the majority government,” predicted Wong (above), who also called for a political financing act to govern the way political parties raise, receive and manage funds.

Recently, a number of Bersatu MPs announced their support for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim while still remaining loyal to their party.

The latest to do so earlier today was Bukit Gantang MP Syed Abu Hussin Hafiz Syed Abdul Fasal, making him the fifth Bersatu lawmaker to ‘switch allegiance’.

Focusing on wrong threat

Wong said that Anwar needs to change the narrative and convince the Malay people that they are not threatened by the Chinese or the Indians.

The actual threat, he said, is technological advances such as artificial intelligence arising from Industrial Revolution 4.0 which will affect the employment sector.

“What Anwar is trying to do now is to fight with PAS which has been championing the narrative that the Malays are under threat for a long time.

"Anwar needs to treat the opposition fairly. This is the only way for him to set the narrative and lead the country in a different direction.

"The choice Anwar has is to change the narrative and his failure is that he did not try to change it,” Wong said.

“Instead he is trying to overcome his opponent but how can he be more original than the original? PAS is the original and Anwar will never be the original. Anwar has spent too much time with non-Malays and he cannot sell the 'halal brand',” he added.

Multi-ethnic vs mono-ethnic

Wong pointed out that since the 2018 election PAS had teamed up with first Umno and then Bersatu in a way that increased polarisation in the country.

“I do think there is a danger that out of this transition from a one-party dominated government under Umno, we may not move to a healthy democracy,” he said.

Wong opined that if the two coalition system the country has now remains there will no longer be a multi-ethnic composition on both sides, as PN is Malay-Muslim dominated.

“Since 2018, we have multi-ethnicity on one side, and mono-ethnicity on the opposition’s side. At first, it was when PAS and Umno teamed up in Muafakat Nasional.

“Then after the Sheraton Move, the two governments under (ex-prime ministers) Muhyiddin Yassin and Ismail Sabri Yaakob were both mono-ethnic and now we have an opposition coalition that is dominated by one race,” he said.

“Mark my words, if this were to continue, the mono-ethnic one will grow stronger and stronger because it appeals to the insecurities of the population,” Wong warned.

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