IT is still a long way to go before PKR and Amanah can sit down and discuss a possible merger that can broaden their reach and increase their Malay support, political observers said.

They told The Malaysian Insight that there were several issues to overcome first, including PKR’s image as a multiracial party and likewise Amanah as a Malay-based Islamist party.

They said there were also internal issues of members from both parties accepting a merger, while noting that the ultimate decision lies with PKR president Anwar Ibrahim and Amanah president Mohamad Sabu.

International Islamic University of Malaysia’s Tunku Mohar Tunku Mohd Mokhtar said it was unclear if Anwar and Mohamad would give the proposal serious thought.

“If the merger is agreed upon, it may help broaden PKR’s base and strengthen its Malay support.

“There could also probably be less “Malay-Islamic” content within Pakatan Harapan,” he said.

Tunku Mohar said that a merger would not guarantee an increase in support for Amanah.

“Its support comes mainly from moderate Malay-Muslims and a few disillusioned PAS supporters.

“Its brand of Islamism is progressive. PKR’s image among the Malays is a non-communal party. Amanah is a Malay-based Islamist party.”

Last week, Anwar said a formal proposal to merge PKR and Amanah has been submitted to the leadership of the two parties.

He said that official deliberations have not yet started as they will have to discuss the matter first before making a decision.

Following this, Amanah deputy president Salahuddin Ayub dismissed talks about the merger, saying that his party would not entertain any such proposal.

He was reported as saying that it had not been raised or discussed in PH, adding that the proposal was also not the official position of either party.

Tunku Mohar added that a merger was not beneficial to either party as they both have their own seat allocations.

“Salahuddin is saying that it’s not necessary. I agree because PH already has a mechanism on seat allocations for elections, and the two parties have different targets.”

He also said that the talks about mergers could derail PH’s general election campaign.

“I don’t think it is a good electoral preparation strategy. They’ll end up explaining why they merge rather than what they can deliver to the people.”

Amanah needs PH support

University of Tasmania political analyst Prof James Chin said it was too early to jump to conclusions solely based on Salahuddin’s rejection of a merger.

“We have to wait for Mohamad’s response. Amanah will always have support, but some of their supporters are actually in the urban areas, overlapping with PKR.”

He said that there were very few ideological differences between Amanah and PKR, adding that they should merge for the greater good.

“Despite Salahuddin ‘s opinion, Amanah should really merge with PKR. The best outcome would be for all three parties to merge into one,” he said, referring to DAP.

“Then they will truly have a multiracial front and the voters will show support for this front and that will put (PH) in a much stronger position to challenge Barisan Nasional.”

He added that Amanah would not survive outside the PH coalition.

“However, as long as there is PH, they will survive because it caters to a very specific group of Malay-Muslim voters.”

He added that Amanah would also have to try winning over conservative Islamic voters in the rural areas.

“Otherwise, they won’t add value to PH,” he added.

Chin said Amanah’s strength if it did merge would depend on the changes in the Malay community.

“If this group of voters move to the middle ground, then Amanah will get stronger. If they move to the right, then PAS will be the big winner.”

He added that for PKR, merging with the weaker Amanah would give it a more moderate Islamic element, and give an advantage to PH when taking on PAS.

“Amanah on its own finds it difficult to challenge PAS, but there is opposition to the merger as Amanah supporters are adamant they just don’t want to join PKR.

“This is because Amanah voters are afraid of the PKR branding. They want moderate Islam branding for Amanah.

“There will be opposition (to merger) mostly from the Amanah side, but, in terms of voters, there won’t be much difference as supporting Amanah is supporting PH as a whole,” he said.

Merger won’t appeal to rural Malays

Oh Ei Sun, senior fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs said the Amanah-PKR merger would not appeal to the rural Malays.

“Most of the rural folks are getting increasingly conservative in their political outlook and they look to racist parties such as Umno or religious parties like PAS for their political preference.

“Even if they don’t like Umno or PAS, they will go for Bersatu, which is racist and a little bit religious.”

He said rural Malays consider both Amanah and PKR liberal and too moderate for the Malay Muslim majority in these areas.

“The merger of these two parties will do nothing to change this perception by the rural voters, so we don’t know it will be beneficial to do so (merge).”

He added it might also scare away some non-Muslim PKR supporters, as they still consider Amanah a religious party, despite its moderate approach.

“It might be the same for Amanah supporters, with PKR being too liberal for them. They should instead carry on doing what they have done previously, such as going to look for moderate Muslims, while PKR targets the multiracial groups.” – December 5, 2021.