Ties with non-Malay parties worth up to 22 seats, says Muhyiddin

Muhyiddin said PN’s projections showed the coalition could gain an extra 2% to 5% in support if it avoided multi-cornered contests and broadened its appeal to more communities.

“If we can avoid clashes between parties, we could add 15 to 22 seats, even with just a 3% vote swing,” he said in an interview with Sinar Harian journalist Haizir Othman.

PN’s 68 seats in the Dewan Rakyat are held through PAS (43) and Bersatu (25).

Muhyiddin acknowledged that PN was often seen as “too Malay-Muslim” and that it was difficult to dispel the perception of being extremist. But efforts are under way to show that the coalition is “moderate but firm” in the causes it champions.

He said non-Malay participation had already begun within Bersatu, which has an associate wing with non-Malay members, including two who sit on the party’s Supreme Council.

“The council is almost all Malay, but we have two non-Malays there. They can speak freely. We talk about national issues,” he added.

Muhyiddin said PN as a whole was moving cautiously, as public views would not shift overnight. “If this keeps going for five, 10, 20 years, it will change how people see us, as a party that fights for all,” he said.

The Pagoh MP also downplayed calls for PN to present a full shadow budget as the opposition and a “government in waiting”, saying such a move was impractical without access to actual fiscal data.

“Preparing a shadow budget is not child’s play. You can’t just sit four or five people in a room and come up with one. Some people ask why we don’t have a shadow budget. That’s not our job. The government prepares it, and we debate it,” he said.

Muhyiddin said PN’s role as the opposition was to highlight the people’s burdens, such as new taxes and rising prices, and to push for better policies. “We raise our voice in Parliament and outside, but the government does not listen,” he said.