Wong Chin Huat of the Penang Institute said the Malays might see the order as coming indirectly from the BN leadership and conclude that Umno was afraid of PPBM.
“In Malay politics, a high value is placed on machismo,” he said. “The Malays admire courage and detest cowardice.”
In a notice sent to PPBM on Thursday, the office of the Registrar of Societies (RoS) said it was using powers given to it under the Societies Act to make a provisional order to PPBM to dissolve itself.
According to RoS director-general Surayati Ibrahim, this was because PPBM had failed to submit a financial statement as well as the minutes of its annual general meeting and those of its divisions and branches.
The party, formed in 2016 after a fallout between Prime Minister Najib Razak and his then deputy, Muhyiddin Yassin, has been given a month to furnish the documents, failing which it can be permanently deregistered.
PPBM is prohibited from using the name of the party and symbol and from carrying out party activities during the 30 days.
Wong said many observers, including non-Malays, would interpret the order as a manifestation of BN’s fear of a large wave of Malay support for PPBM, which is led by former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.
“However, deregistering PPBM might have a counter-productive effect and amplify the Malay tsunami,” he said.
Pakatan Harapan component parties will now use PKR’s logo for the impending general election, and Wong says that this might increase support for the opposition pact because it would remind Malaysians of the pre-Reformasi days, when Mahathir and PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim were hailed as a dream team.
“The last time Mahathir and Anwar co-led a coalition in the general election, in 1995, their coalition was supported by both Malays and non-Malays and they won 65% of the votes.
“Will PPBM’s deregistration result in a repeat of 1995 for the Mahathir-Anwar team? Very likely, but it can only be guaranteed by a turnout that is as high as 85%.”
However, he said Pakatan would be at a great disadvantage if the government decided to have the election on a weekday and opted to observe the legal minimum gap of 18 days from the date of parliament’s dissolution to polling day.