TWO-MONTH-OLD Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) is willing to explore working relationships with other political parties for the betterment of the country, its secretary-general, Nor Hizwan Ahmad, said.

He said the party – largely made up of former PKR members – believes in not looking at other parties as rivals.

He told The Malaysian Insight that they should instead complement one another and form a formidable partnership.

“Maybe the other newly formed political parties could be our friends. Maybe the old parties can be our friends too and maybe we can take on a role to complement each other instead of competing,” Nor Hizwan said in an interview.

“And if they play their roles accordingly when they unite into one group, this group will be the strongest.”

Citing the results of the 14th general election as an example, Nor Hizwan said no political party can single-handedly win handsomely and form the government.

He said the era of dominance by a single political party is over and that the only possible way to win an election is by cooperating with other parties.

“We are not thinking of being dominant; we are thinking of complementing other political parties,” he said.

“So this space is still open. We can still talk and we will try to talk (with other political parties).

“If you look at the last general election results, there is no way for a single political party to win the majority. That era is over. The era of dominant political parties is over.

“No one can be a ‘big brother’ in Malaysian politics. The secret (to win) is cooperation.”

Nor Hizwan said one of PBM’s main objectives is to ensure that Malaysia is not left behind.

“We need to focus on the interests of Malaysia and the future. So it is very important for us to explore the space to work with any political party, any organisation with the end result for Malaysia to be better than the Malaysia we have today,” he said.

“I’m not saying Malaysia is not good today, but it can be better.

“Whatever the way, together we develop our country. We are looking forward to working with any party that shares our aspirations. I think that is the way forward for Malaysia.”

He also reiterated that for now, PBM will support the government of Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

The PKR link

PBM has always been linked to several former PKR leaders who left the party for Bersatu, especially Mohamed Azmin Ali and Zuraida Kamaruddin.

Azmin and Zuraida were labelled as members of the “cartel” faction when they were in PKR.

However, Nor Hizwan said it is unfair to say that the party was formed by this group of people.

“If you want to say that PBM is a fragment of a cartel, if you look at the party line-up, not all of them are from my old party, PKR,” he said.

“In this party, at the state or even at the central level, not everyone is from PKR. There are also members from other parties and there are also professional people who are not from any party.”

He said he does not take such comments to heart as such labelling is common in politics.

“We can’t take this thing seriously. To me, I find it humorous,” he said.

Nor Hizwan himself is closely associated with Zuraida, being her former political secretary.

Launched last December, PBM was rebranded from Sarawak Workers Party to turn it into a national-level party.

The application for name change was approved by the Registrar of Societies on October 27 last year.

Former Sarawak PKR chairman Larry Sng is the president of PBM while several other top leaders in the party are formerly with PKR.

Zuraida is also speculated to join PBM but she has so far dismissed this claim.

Nor Hizwan said the party’s membership has surpassed 100,000, including those from Sarawak Workers Party and Penggerak Komuniti Negara, a civil society movement started by Zuraida. – February 11, 2022.