Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi
KUCHING (Oct 7): The Malay-dominant party Umno wants an early general election because it feels that it is gaining momentum in strength, said political analyst Associate Professor Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi.
He said while the 15th General Election (GE15) is in fact due next year, some Umno leaders were adamant that in having it this coming November or December.
“After all, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri is an Umno man being its vice president,” he said when asked if the current frenzy of calling for an early GE15 is caused by Umno.
Awang Azman, who is a research fellow at Universiti Malaya’s (UM) Centre for Democracy and Elections, said Umno is also the backbone of the federal Perikatan Nasional (PN) government pact which wrested power from the elected Pakatan Harapan (PH) in 2020.
“If the GE15 is to be held next year, Umno feared that the opposition fold would then be more united, enabling it to manipulate issues,” he said.
He was however confident that if the PN is ousted in the GE15, PH would be taking over Putrajaya since it is now the second biggest political bloc in the country.
The opposition on the other hand is hoping for the GE15 to be called next year because currently it does not have a satisfactory level of confidence in winning over PN since the timeframe for campaigning would be short.
“And probably it (PH) is still rehabilitating from the alleged poor run in administering the nation during its 22-month reign after winning the 2018 parliamentary polls,” Awang Azman added.
Main parties in the PH include Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Parti Amanah Nasional (Amanah).
As for Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), a member of the PN, Awang Azman believed that it may be punished by its former voters in GE15 because of the party hopping action by some of its leaders during the 2020 national leadership crisis.
“Therefore PN may find it hard to win seats in the coming polls,” he said.
As for Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS), another partner in PN, he believed that it may not be able to retain its 18 parliamentary seats due to its alleged weak performance in the nation’s administration.
Another political analyst, Dr Arnold Puyok, however believed that it is not the federal government per se, but a group of party leaders who are taking advantage of the government’s precarious position to return to power.
“To a certain extent, yes, but I believe even Umno is divided. Again, not Umno per se but a group of leaders who believe that Umno should be dominant again and should be in the driver’s seat,” said the Deputy Dean cum Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas).
Arnold believed the alternative to PN, if it is ousted in the GE15, would be “a coalition of parties representing the diverse voices, aspirations and/or ideologies of Malaysian society.”
“The future of Malaysian politics is coalition building,” he said, without naming the possible alternative federal government after GE15 is concluded later on.