Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid of Universiti Sains Malaysia and Oh Ei Sun of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs said it was not clear whether PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man was talking about backing the incumbent party or the incumbent MPs in constituencies where both Umno and Bersatu would be in the fray.
PAS is part of the Bersatu-led Perikatan Nasional (PN) and is also in the Muafakat Nasional alliance with Umno. Bersatu and Umno have been at odds with each other and appear to be heading for war.
In his statement quoted last Monday in Utusan Malaysia, Tuan Ibrahim said PAS, Umno and Bersatu should maintain their seats.
“If a seat belongs to Umno, we will support Umno and if it is Bersatu’s, we will support Bersatu,” he said. “The basis of our cooperation is the prevention of three-cornered fights.”
Ahmad Fauzi said PAS’ backing of the incumbent party could mean disowning former Umno members who defected to Bersatu after the last election.
He asked: “Is PAS ready to disown the 15 Bersatu MPs who won their seats on the Umno ticket in GE14?”
He said it was important to remember that the Umno deserters ultimately gave Bersatu enough numbers to enable it to break away from Pakatan Harapan and become the lynchpin of PN.
“Actually, these defections helped catapult PAS to power at the federal level after 44 years,” he said.
“I doubt the defectors in Bersatu will be pleased with PAS’ stand to now back Umno where it is the incumbent, especially since PAS is part of Perikatan Nasional.”
He said grassroots Malay voters might not agree with such an ambivalent stand.
Oh said Umno might not be happy with PAS’ stand, especially if its support of incumbents meant backing Umno deserters.
However, he noted PAS’ sizeable and loyal support base and said the party could, in some measure, dictate the terms of mediation between Umno and Bersatu as both parties would want its support.
“But, ultimately, Umno can afford to reject PAS’ mediation plan as it has enormous grassroots support,” he said.
“Bersatu, on the other hand, will be relying heavily on PAS due to its lack of grassroots support.”