KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s Perikatan Nasional (PN) opposition coalition has called for six parliamentary seats and one Selangor state assembly seat to be made vacant.
This follows the representatives’ move to switch allegiance from the opposition to Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s administration.
On March 9, the coalition’s chairman Muhyiddin Yassin challenged Datuk Seri Anwar to hold by-elections for these seats and expressed confidence that PN could easily win these Malay-majority seats.
“If you dare, declare six parliamentary seats and one Selangor state assembly seat vacant. We return the mandate to the people and let the people do the maths,” he said at the PN MPs and Assemblymen Convention 2024.
“I don’t want to boast, but I am confident, God willing, PN will win even more votes if by-elections are held,” he said.
The defectors all came from Tan Sri Muhyiddin’s Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu).
One of them is Selangor’s Selat Klang assemblyman Abdul Rashid Asari, while the rest are all MPs. They are Datuk Zulkafperi Hanapi, Datuk Syed Abu Hussin Hafiz Syed Abdul Fasal, Datuk Iskandar Dzulkarnain Abdul Khalid, Mr Mohd Azizi Abu Naim, Mr Zahari Kechik, and Datuk Suhaili Abdul Rahman.
Bersatu has been facing a crisis since 2023, when the defectors declared their support for the unity government. The latest was Mr Abdul Rashid, who declared his support for Selangor Chief Minister Amirudin Shari on March 6.
Datuk Seri Amirudin is a member of Mr Anwar’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat.
All seven representatives who opted to back the Malaysian government were not invited to the convention, said Bersatu information chief Razali Idris.
“We consider the representatives of the seven seats dead. Just wait for the elections. Why do we need to invite them?” he said.
PN’s secretary-general Hamzah Zainuddin said there was a “silver lining” to the defections – that the coalition can discern who truly supports its cause and is loyal.
On March 2, Bersatu held an extraordinary general meeting to stop more elected representatives from defecting to the ruling coalition. They decided at the meeting that the membership of any MPs or assemblymen will be voided immediately if they express support for rival parties.
Responding to Mr Muhyiddin’s challenge, Mr Anwar told a press conference later on March 9 that the onus to vacate the seats lies with the assemblyman and six MPs, not with his administration.
He further pointed out that Mr Muhyiddin is an expert when it comes to party hopping, referring to the 2020 Sheraton Move when Bersatu, under Mr Muhyiddin’s leadership, left the ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, effectively triggering the collapse of the government.
Currently, the unity government commands 153 out of the 222 parliamentary seats. This grants Mr Anwar a supermajority in the Lower House as he has the confidence of more than two-thirds of the elected representatives.
A two-thirds majority allows the prime minister to push through constitutional amendments.
Since the seats have a Malay majority, losing the constituencies would continue to reflect the community’s unhappiness with the current administration.
PH suffered a resounding defeat in the Malay-belt states of Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah in the six state elections held in August 2023.
Even with its rival-turned-ally Umno, it won only three out of 36 seats in Kedah, two out of 45 seats in Kelantan and was totally wiped out in Terengganu.
Asked to comment, Singapore Institute of International Affairs senior fellow Oh Ei Sun told The Straits Times that it would not look good for PH if it loses those seats, but it would be expected if a by-election is called.
“Well, those were originally Bersatu seats, so losses on the PH side could be explained away as such. It is unrealistic to expect the government to absolutely prevail in these seats, given the state elections results,” said Dr Oh.
