BARISAN Nasional (BN) has a good chance of retaining Putrajaya and could win at least 90 parliamentary seats in the coming general election, the caretaker prime minister’s brother Kamarazaman Yaakob predicted.

Kamarazaman, who is also the president of Parti Kuasa Rakyat, said the future looks bright for BN as Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) has made it clear that it would cooperate with any coalition except Pakatan Harapan (PH).

“From my reading, BN needs to win 90 parliamentary seats and they can achieve the target. GPS recently said that it would work with others but not PH,” said Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s brother.

“GPS can easily get 25 seats. Ninety plus 25 is already 115. You need 112 to form a government with a simple majority. I see BN retaining Putrajaya this coming election,” said the 73-year-old, who grew up supporting socialism.

Earlier this week, GPS’ Parti Pesaka Bumiputera vice-president Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the coalition does not mind working with any party from Peninsular Malaysia, as long as it is not PH or DAP.

This is because, he said, when PH won the 2018 general election, they viewed GPS, still known as Sarawak BN then, as the opposition.

Another reason why GPS decided not to work with PH and DAP is that during the time when PH was still the federal government, GPS felt harassed as many of its projects were cancelled by the PH government, and it remembers all that.

Kamarazaman was the president of the Universiti Malaya Students’ Union in the 1970s.

He was detained under the Internal Security Act for various anti-government protests such as the Baling protest and the Tasik Utara settlers’ demonstration in 1972.

GTA to lose all of its deposits

Meanwhile, Kamarazaman said Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) may suffer heavy losses in the general election.

He claimed that the nonagenarian is not the same person as he was in 2018 when he led PH to victory. 

“I don’t see how GTA is going to win, not even a single seat. In the recent Johor elections, they lost their deposits.  

“Dr Mahathir is not the same man as he was in 2018. Back then, whatever he said, we Malays would call it ‘mulut masin’ (whatever he said is true),” said Kamarazaman.

He also poured scorn on Pejuang’s coalition partners such as Perikatan India Muslim Malaysia (Iman), Barisan Jemaah Islamiah Malaysia (Berjasa) and Persatuan Pribumi Perkasa Malaysia (Putra).

“Who is Iman? Have you heard about Iman? Even my son asked me who Berjasa is. Then you have Putra. Pejuang itself is weak. Its partners are even worse,” he said. 

Dr Mahathir recently said that GTA would focus on convincing young and new voters on the current political situation in the country in the upcoming polls.

The 97-year-old incumbent Langkawi MP said this was because this group of voters might not be used to the situation and therefore needed clarification on it.

The Election Commission has set November 19 for polling, with nominations to be held on November 5. – October 22, 2022.