PETALING JAYA: Perikatan Nasional (PN) will lose its “fangs” if Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin steps down from the coalition before the next general election, an analyst says.
Ilham Centre’s head researcher Yusri Ibrahim said PN’s performance in the general election, expected to be held before the end of this year, would depend on whether there were any “influential” leaders, like Muhyiddin, helming it.
Yusri said the initial establishment of Bersatu and PN was closely linked to the popularity of Muhyiddin, the Pagoh MP.
He felt that the votes received by PN, which won three seats in Saturday’s Johor elections, were a “gift to Abah”, the name by which he is fondly referred to in the state.
“If PN goes on without Muhyiddin, it will be quite difficult for them to win the hearts of voters in GE15 because Muhyiddin’s ‘aura’ is interlinked with Bersatu; it is quite difficult for supporters to choose Bersatu without Muhyiddin,” he told FMT.
Bersatu won two seats – Endau and Bukit Kepong – and its PN ally PAS won the Maharani seat in the Johor polls.
At a press conference, Muhyiddin said he was willing to resign as PN chairman following the coalition’s poor showing.
However, Yusri said Muhyiddin and party leaders in PN should not feel discouraged by their performance in the elections.
“PN was established just over a year ago and its election machinery is far from perfect. Yet, it is able to win three seats. I think this is a very encouraging result for PN,” he said.
He did not agree with those who predicted that the Johor election results would be reflected at the next general election.
“PN’s performance may even be much better than Barisan Nasional’s (in GE15) if you take into consideration PAS’ smooth election machinery in the east coast and northern states like Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah,” he said.
But Akademi Nusantara senior fellow (strategic research) Azmi Hassan blamed PN’s defeat in Johor on Bersatu’s choice of allies.
He said Bersatu needed to re-evaluate its choice of allies “who must add more value to the coalition and not just be passengers”.
“Changing the leadership of PN will not bring about big changes if it does not have strong allies. PAS and Gerakan ride a lot on Bersatu.
“The real problem is Bersatu’s allies,” he said.
Both Yusri and Azmi agreed that Bersatu leaders such as Hamzah Zainudin and Azmin Ali were able to take over from Muhyiddin, but said their personalities were no match for the popularity of Muhyiddin.
Azmi said that according to the party’s hierarchy, Bersatu deputy president Ahmad Faizal Azumu was next in line to replace Muhyiddin, but there were doubts over the former Perak menteri besar’s “true authority” in the party.
