BERSATU will not become a multiracial party but will explore opening a new wing to accommodate non-Malay members without giving them full membership, said its leaders.

Faced with concerns among grassroots members that the party’s Bumiputera identity and founding principles are being changed, a few leaders told The Malaysian Insight that Bersatu would only improve its existing structure for associate members.

This is to enable more inclusivity for additional roles and even seats in elections.

Rais Yatim, who heads the task force to assess the admission of non-Malays, said Bersatu is firm on not becoming a multiracial party.

“(The task force) is only to enlarge the position of non-Malay members in our existing structure for associate members. It is going to be another umbrella.

“They not coming in to be integral to the party as such. The associate members have limited roles and functions,” the former Barisan Nasional minister told The Malaysian Insight.

Party president and Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin last week said Bersatu would admit non-Malays. This followed defections from PKR, which included non-Malays, led by Mohamed Azmin Ali, to form the government that ousted Pakatan Harapan from federal power in late February.

Segamat MP Edmund Santhara is a non-Bumiputera and non-Muslim who followed Azmin out of PKR, and other non-Malay members from the PKR grassroots are also said to have followed suit.

Bersatu was founded before the 2018 general election as a Bumiputera party to rival Umno.

Now that it is in government with Umno and is seeking to join the BN lynchpin party and PAS in the Muafakat Nasional pact, the smaller splinter party is expected to have a hard time negotiating for Malay seats to contest in the next elections.

Tweaking its structure to allow non-Malays to contest on a Bersatu ticket, therefore, makes sense.

Newly minted Bersatu youth chief Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal said the non-Malay wing would be similar in structure to PAS’ non-Muslim wing, Dewan Himpunan Penyokong PAS (DHPP).

“We still believe Bersatu is a Malay-based party. It’s not going to be a multiracial party but we acknowledge the importance of having non-Bumiputera members.

“Bersatu’s core identity will remain as nationalist party. Having another wing or structure is to allow non-Malay to hold positions and contest, like DHPP,” said the deputy youth and sports minister.

Wan Fayhsal also said Bersatu accepted Azmin’s faction “so that the party would have more quality leaders”.

Bersatu supreme council member Eddin Syazlee Shith said the move is welcomed as Bersatu being a party in government, needs to expand.

“This is a good move. We’re expanding our party. We are in a top leadership position, so it is natural for us to become bigger,” he said.

The deputy works minister, however, said the grassroots should be kept informed so that they do not misunderstand the purpose of admitting non-Malays.

“There should be explanations to the grassroots so there is no confusion on this,” Eddin said.

Rais, who is also Negri Sembilan Bersatu chief, is similarly concerned about possible grassroots backlash and said the move to admit non-Malays should be clearly explained.

Failure to communicate clearly could cause Bersatu to lose support, as Umno founder and first president Onn Jaafar experienced when he tried to open Umno to non-Malays in 1951.

“We need to approach this in a cautious and proper manner. We would not want what happened to a great visionary like Onn Jaafar who got booted out, to happen to our party,” Rais said

Universiti Malaya’s Awang Azman Awang Pawi said Bersatu is simply trying to position itself to be palatable to all Malaysians.

It has to rebrand itself, otherwise it has no advantage over the more dominant Umno.

“They are rebranding themselves by opening up new positions to form a sort of multiracial outfit.”

The political analyst said this would be a double-edged move which risks losing the support of hardcore Malay loyalists.

“The grassroots might be split. They joined Bersatu as they assumed it would be cleaner than Umno but still uphold Malay ideology.

“There will be those who are disappointed and could either defect to Pejuang or return to Umno, since Umno is also in government,” Awang Azman said.

Pejuang is the new party started by Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was sacked from Bersatu along with other MPs and leaders for opposing Muhyiddin’s government.

Dr Mahathir blamed Muhyiddin for unilaterally pulling Bersatu out of PH in late February which led to his (Dr Mahathir’s) resignation as prime minister and the collapse of the PH government.

He has also accused Muhyiddin of leading Bersatu astray from its goal of fighting corruption by working with Umno in the new government. – August 27, 2020.