A political analyst believes PAS is taking sides in the Bersatu leadership tussle, with the Islamic party preferring Bersatu deputy president Hamzah Zainudin over his president, Muhyiddin Yassin.
This followed the implicit rejection by PAS of Muhyiddin as Perikatan Nasional’s prime minister candidate, with party president Abdul Hadi Awang saying the party wanted someone under the age of 70.
Political analyst Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid, who recently retired from Universiti Sains Malaysia, said: “There’ll be a clash between PAS and Muhyiddin’s loyalists in Bersatu rather than with Bersatu itself.”
He said PAS would not want to be bogged down by Muhyiddin’s court cases, or even the unresolved issues involving the Bersatu president’s son-in-law Adlan Berhan, who is sought by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.
He said PAS was banking on its reputation of integrity, of being a clean party, as it heads into the next general election.
Behind Hadi’s stand
However, Azmi Hassan of Akademi Nusantara said Hadi’s stand was to state confidence in the ability of PAS to put forth a prime ministerial candidate, rather than seeking to lend strength to Hamzah.
He agreed that Hadi was pouring cold water on Muhyiddin’s ambition of returning as prime minister especially given PAS’s growing dominance and prominence in PN.
Azmi said it was apparent this issue had been brewing beneath the surface but had now come out into the open and “PAS now thinks they have the upper hand” after calls for Muhyiddin to step down were made at the Bersatu general assembly.
At its muktamar last week, Hadi said PAS would choose someone “healthy and under 70 years old” as its prime minister candidate. Muhyiddin, who is 78, had been nominated by Bersatu as its prime ministerial candidate the week before. He had previously served as Malaysia’s eighth prime minister in 2020-2021
Hamzah, who became opposition leader with PAS’s backing, is 68 and has often been touted as a potential prime ministerial candidate for PN.
Hadi, who turns 78 next month, later said his remarks were not aimed at anyone else except himself and PAS spiritual leader Hashim Jasin, saying that they were too old for the role.
The PN Supreme Council is expected to meet this week, where the matter will be discussed.
‘PAS will be pragmatic’
Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani of ADA Southeast Asia said Hadi’s remarks would no doubt cause discontent among Muhyiddin’s faction, especially given the tumult he still faces in his own party.
However, he also believed Hadi was not signalling support for anyone in Bersatu but was speaking specifically in the context of PAS’s prime minister candidate.
“The situation is far from irreparable. In Malaysian politics nothing is ever set in stone, and the issue remains negotiable if Muhyiddin is determined to be PN’s prime minister candidate. Ultimately, PAS will work with whoever commands the support of Bersatu. Political pragmatism has always guided PAS’s decisions in coalition politics.”
