BERSATU EYES WRESTING JOHOR FROM BN IN FUTURE POLLS
Since PAS severed ties with Bersatu, Muhyiddin has maintained that his party would not leave PN but is “ready to fight on all fronts” against its erstwhile ally.
Both parties have also traded barbs over the recent return of Hamzah Zainudin as Malaysia’s opposition leader.
Hamzah was Muhyiddin’s deputy in Bersatu but was sacked in February amid infighting in the party.
Hamzah unveiled his new party – the Parti Wawasan Negara (Wawasan) – in June, and his role as opposition leader has cast the spotlight on Bersatu’s position in PN.
Bersatu secured 31 seats in the last general election in 2022, but that has since dwindled.
Its representation first fell to 25 after six MPs were sacked for supporting Anwar’s administration. It fell further to 19 following Hamzah’s sacking and those aligned to him.
Despite the official count, media reports suggest that the number of Bersatu MPs backing Muhyiddin is less than that.
Still, Muhyiddin told CNA that the party leadership is using the Johor polls as a litmus test on how the party can move forward in “the context of the new political situation”.
“I want to see how far Bersatu has penetrated into the hearts and minds of people,” he told CNA.
“And whatever the outcome of this will give me a very strong indication where we are heading. It’s not just in Johor, it’s (also) in the other states. Elections are coming in Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, Pahang and later on, of course, the general election,” he added.
He added that Bersatu is also looking to alter its image and attract non-Muslims for support, something the right-wing conservative party has grappled with given its ties with PAS.
To help with this, Muhyiddin said Bersatu has amended its constitution to induct non-Muslim members into its supreme council and formed a “multi-racial wing” called Bersekutu which admits non-Bumiputera members.
“So we don’t just talk about Malays, we talk about Malaysians. I believe this is very important as far as our ideology is concerned,” he said.
Muhyiddin has a strong base in northern Johor, having served as federal member of parliament for Pagoh for almost four decades.
Bersatu is incumbent in two Johor seats – in Bukit Kepong and Endau.
He told CNA that with PN contesting 33 seats out of 56, and Bersatu in 16 of these, the target is not to form the next state government but rather to make in-roads in the southern state.
He acknowledged that BN still has a strong base in the state, something the former Johor chief minister said he helped build when serving in the party from 1971 to 2016, where he rose the ranks to be deputy prime minister to Najib Razak.
