Search This Blog

Monday, February 18, 2019

Analyst sees ex-Umno crossovers strengthening Dr U-turn’s ‘ultimate plan’

PETALING JAYA - PPBM will move closer to its aim of becoming the strongest party in Pakatan Harapan (PH) after the recent admittance of seven former Umno MPs, says a political analyst.

James Chin said the move would alter the “power equation” within the coalition and help Dr Mahathir Mohamad achieve the “ultimate aim” of his party or reaching par with PKR or DAP.

“To understand the power dynamics, you need to understand that, at present, almost all of PPBM’s political strength can be summed up in one word – Mahathir,” Chin said in a commentary on Channel NewsAsia.

“There is consensus within PH that regime change would not have happened without Mahathir’s role in splitting the Umno vote and engineering a smooth transition of power.

“If there is any doubt about the personal power of Mahathir, you only need to look at the statistics,” he said, citing Cabinet posts held by PPBM despite a measly 13 parliamentary seats after the May 9 election results.

Chin, who is director of the Asia Institute at the University of Tasmania, said the next logical move for Mahathir before he leaves politics is to make sure PPBM remains influential.

“Of course, one can argue political miracles do happen – after all, how many people saw Mahathir becoming prime minister at 93?

“But in terms of strategy, the only way for PPBM to remain influential in PH is to increase its numbers in both parliament and state assemblies.”

This is why, according to Chin, it is best for Mahathir to “neutralise” the party’s nemesis, Umno.

“It is not enough for the Barisan Nasional coalition to unravel; Umno must be snuffed out. Any cards it holds that can ensure its political future must be snatched from its hands,” he said.

Chin also claimed that PPBM would soon be looking for defectors in Sarawak as well, saying the Malay-based party hopes to replace PBB as the main Malay-Muslim party in the state.

He also expected tough times for Umno.

“The end result is Umno may end up with less than 20 MPs before the next general election.

“If that happens, I would also not rule out Umno being deregistered before the next general election given the investigations into its financial affairs.” - FMT

No comments:

Post a Comment