WINNING with a two-thirds majority would be a cinch for Barisan Nasional (BN) if it were to work with Perikatan Nasional (PN), said MIC vice-president Sivarraajh Chandran.

He said joining forces with PN would increase BN’s chances of capturing the seats it lost in the 2018 elections and make it the dominant coalition in parliament.

“If BN could work with PAS and Bersatu, surely it will give us more strength. Just imagine the Malay support we will get if we can work together. It will be very strong. Surely can win many seats.

“And I believe we can easily win two-thirds majority if we all work together,” Sivarraajh told The Malaysian Insight in an interview.

The former Cameron Highlands MP said disagreement between Umno and Bersatu over the allocation of seats have prevented the two from working together.

“The issue is between Umno and Bersatu, who are tussling over seats.

“Those who contested under the Umno banner in the last general election and then jumped over to Bersatu want to retain their seats but Umno said it wants the seats back.

“So there are some ego issues here, which are affecting the overall chances of BN.” 

Umno recently said it would not work with PN in GE15, opting instead to contest under the BN banner.

Sivarraajh said it was Umno’s decision to part ways with Bersatu and that the split was not discussed with the other component parties of BN.

“This was not our (MIC’s) decision. This was Umno’s decision.

“Umno should have brought this up with BN and discussed it with the other component members before deciding to split from PN.

“I believe that there will be a second round of talks with BN before anything is decided.

Last week at Umno’s annual general assembly, the party adopted a resolution to end ties with Bersatu at the end of the term.

Umno said it will remain in government until parliament is dissolved.

Umno also forced PAS to choose between the party and Bersatu, the result of which was PAS electing to remain in PN.

Will MIC work with PH?

On the likelihood of Umno teaming up with Pakatan Harapan if neither parties were able to win a majority in the elections, Sivarraajh Umno did not have a clear strategy yet.

On whether MIC would work with PH if that were to occur, he said the party would wait and see first.

Until then, he said the BN coalition must aims to win more parliamentary seats.

“For now the Umno president and BN chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has said no ties with PKR, DAP, Anwar Ibrahim and Bersatu. So we stick with that.

“But on the other hand, Umno Supreme Council member Tajuddin (Abdul Rahman) has said this will be decided after elections.

“So there is no clear direction or strategy here. Until then, MIC must wait and see what happens.

“Our aim at this point must be to win more parliamentary seats and have more representatives,” he said.

Tajuddin, who is the Umno election director, said the party was open to working with other parties to form a government after the elections. – April 3, 2021.