PH win will see BN-PN pact for GE15, says Amanah man
PETALING JAYA: A Pakatan Harapan (PH) win in next Saturday’s Melaka election could pave the way for Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) to join forces again before the next general election, says an Amanah leader. Amanah’s communication director Khalid Samad said that if PH were to form the…
PETALING JAYA: A Pakatan Harapan (PH) win in next Saturday’s Melaka election could pave the way for Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) to join forces again before the next general election, says an Amanah leader.
Amanah’s communication director Khalid Samad said that if PH were to form the state government after the Nov 20 poll, PN and BN would be forced to rethink their decision to compete against each other.
“Maybe they will consider their experience in Melaka to be a bitter one and come to the realisation that they have to cooperate ahead of the next general election,” said the Shah Alam MP in an online forum.
“They will then face a lot of problems. While they know they will have to work together, they can’t do so as they only care about themselves – and they have no vision or policies that they can put forward.”
Both PH and BN announced their manifestos yesterday, but PN has yet to do so.
BN deputy chairman Mohamad Hasan pledged to allocate equal funds for all 28 assemblymen should it form the next state government.
He said BN also wanted to amend the state constitution to appoint five non-elected assemblymen comprising youths and NGO leaders to widen the state assembly’s perspective beyond politics.
PH, meanwhile, included a pledge to recognise the opposition leader’s position at executive councillor level – with the manifesto based on three core areas of welfare, economy and governance.
On Sunday, both BN and PN announced they would be contesting the Melaka elections under their respective banners. PN is led by the Umno splinter party Bersatu, and the disdain the two parties have for each other is no secret.
PAS has agreed to contest under the PN banner, leading to claims that its Muafakat Nasional alliance with Umno – formed in September 2019 to unite the Malay-Muslim vote – was done and dusted.
Umno, Bersatu and PAS members are all part of the federal government. Commenting on the clash between PN and BN at the state polls, Khalid said the matter was enough to give Malaysians a headache.
“The main thing is that if PN or BN win enough seats to form a joint government in Melaka, it will not be stable – just like the (federal) government now,” said the former federal territories minister.
“It will be a coalition formed after an election, and that will be problematic because there will always be negotiations for this and that.” — Free Malaysia Today