* Commentary by Mustafa K. Anuar

IN a move predicted by political pundits and observant Malaysians, Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin recently made overtures to leaders of opposition parties to form a united front against the Umno-Barisan Nasional juggernaut in the next general election.

This came in the wake of the Johor elections where Bersatu as well as other disunited opposition parties and independents performed badly while Umno-BN regained further strength after gaining a supermajority from multi-cornered fights.

Muhyiddin’s efforts were also precipitated by friendly fire between Umno and Bersatu at the Johor hustings that had caused bad blood, which, in turn, culminated in Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan declaring recently that the two parties were officially divorced owing to irreconcilable differences.

As a result, we were told that Muhyiddin had met ex-Bersatu founding member Dr Mahathir Mohamad to discuss a possible alliance with Pejuang, to which Dr Mahathir said he could not possibly support a “backstabber’s” attempt to regain the prime minister’s office.

Bersatu Youth chief Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal, however, claimed that it was Dr Mahathir, among other opposition leaders, who had reached out to Muhyiddin because of Perikatan Nasional’s “strength on the ground”.

Whatever the case may be, Dr Mahathir insisted that he could not lend support to Muhyiddin, although his son Mukhriz reportedly said – rather curiously – his party was ready to leave the past behind “for the sake of the people”.

Bersatu supreme council member Faiz Na’aman said opposition leaders, particularly Dr Mahathir, should put their egos aside in a common agenda to deny Umno electoral triumph in the 15th general election. That’s rich coming from a party whose leader has an ego big enough to topple a democratically elected Pakatan Harapan (PH) government.

In an apparent attempt to build a “big tent” coalition, Muhyiddin was also reported to have approached PH chairman Anwar Ibrahim, although the latter denied there was any chance of the opposition pact entertaining Muhyiddin’s prime ministerial ambition or cooperation with Bersatu.

As if not to miss the boat, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang had also indicated a plan to meet up with Dr Mahathir, possibly with the intention to build a broad collaboration among Malay-Muslim parties for the supposed sake of the ummah.

For the uninitiated, Umno, PAS and Bersatu found common ground earlier in a tripartite understanding to purportedly take care of the ummah’s interests and concerns (read: race, religion and royalty). But, as we all now know, they all eventually went separate ways due to a clash of political designs, leaving PAS to nurture its relationship with Bersatu.

But given the poor showing of Bersatu and PAS in the Malacca and Johor elections, it seems Bersatu is less confident of winning big in the general election with only PAS as its comrade-in-arms, especially if Muhyiddin still has his eye on the premiership.

Hence, the olive branch was extended to PKR president Anwar Ibrahim by Muhyiddin.

DAP, which is a member of PH, had already indicated in no uncertain terms that it would not work with a “backstabber”.

Its newly elected secretary-general Anthony Loke rightly contended that the way forward for PH was to strengthen solidarity in terms of inter-party communications, unity as a pact as well as a common agenda. This is apart from telling the people in a refreshing way what the pact has to offer to improve their living standards.

In other words, PH should be wary of certain efforts to form an alliance merely to deprive Umno-BN of its electoral success, and not based on certain progressive principles. We have been there before.

As if to emphasise Bersatu’s supposed political relevance in our diverse and modern society, Wan Ahmad Fayhsal maintained that the Malays gravitated towards his party after it abandoned PH because the community needed a “protector” to maintain their “neo-feudal mentality” as a bulwark against liberal democracy.

What the Malays as well as other Malaysians who aspire to be a progressive people need is protection against those who treat others like sheep and profit from their ignorance of rights and responsibilities; condone and practise corruption; downplay transparency and accountability; and promote exploitation, blind loyalty, bigotry and extremism.  

This vital protection can instead be gained from quality formal education, democratic institutions, and universal values of justice, freedom, compassion and human dignity.

Bersatu would be doing Malaysians, particularly Malays, a disservice if its leaders continue to live like frogs under a coconut shell (“katak di bawah tempurung”). – April 6, 2022.