The Malaysian politicians may seem to have ceased fire and work together on reviving the economy now, but this could be just the calm before the next great storm.
The current government is a coalition between a few parties, with the main parties being UMNO, PAS and Amanah. However, within this coalition itself, it seems that the leaders of these parties had not been getting along so well.
The UMNO president, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had recently hinted that UMNO feels betrayed by the parties in the coalition and it is best for them to contest solo in the next general election under the Barisan Nasional banner.
In an interview with My TV Online recently, Zahid said hypocritically “Does Muafakat Nasional still exist?”
He then said that all seats across the nation are “free-for-all”, and negotiations to form the government can be conducted after the election results are out.
“If we want to form a government, we will have to wait until after the election results. We will then know how many seats each party has, and then, we can negotiate.”
Following which, Zahid had issued a “battle cry” on Facebook today, warning Umno’s opponents not to underestimate the party’s strength and its grassroots.
“Umno will defend all the federal and state seats it won in the previous election. There will be no compromise.” he said.
Meanwhile, the cooperation between PAS and UMNO is now being jeopardised, with the Islamist party appearing to side with Perikatan Nasional during Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s tenure as prime minister.
Yesterday, the PN coalition chief, Muhyiddin announced that the pact’s seat allocation in the peninsula will involve only Bersatu, PAS and Gerakan.
Muhyiddin also said that he is unsure if UMNO intends to cooperate with the PN coalition in the coming GE15.
“We have not received any sign on whether UMNO wants to cooperate or not,” he told a press conference, adding that the BN lynchpin’s participation does not matter and that PN will make its own decisions.
It seems that the power struggle between the political parties will continue despite the leaders appeared to mingle well with each other.
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