Amanah central committee member Sany Hamzan said BN should look back on its past experience working with PN before deciding to form an alliance in Negeri Sembilan.
He told FMT that PN merely wanted to take advantage of the ongoing turmoil and take part in a new state government.
“Umno and BN need to remember their experience working with PN before this,” he said, pointing to the time when PN and BN were allies in the federal government from 2020 to 2022.
PN and BN joined hands to form the federal government, with Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin becoming the prime minister, following the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan administration in February 2020.
Muhyiddin resigned as the prime minister in August 2021 after several BN MPs withdrew support for him, and Umno vice-president Ismail Sabri Yaakob replaced him in the top post.
Despite being allies, Umno and PN were frequently at each other’s throats and eventually clashed in the Melaka and Johor state elections despite being federal allies.
Umno has consistently accused PAS of betraying their Muafakat Nasional pact by co-founding PN with Bersatu.
Sany, the Amanah election director, said PH had been magnanimous towards BN in Selangor, intentionally making room for Umno to join the state executive council while allocating local councillor and village chief posts.
The Hulu Langat MP said issues within a state administration should be dealt with through negotiations rather than withdrawing support or resigning from posts.
Since the Negeri Sembilan government was formed on the basis of the PH-BN unity pact, Sany said, all parties should go back to the negotiation table to sort out their dispute.
He said the crisis in Negeri Sembilan was not just political but involved the state’s royal and customary institutions.
The Negeri Sembilan crisis arose after Mubarak Dohak, the former undang of Sungai Ujong, announced the removal of Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir as the Yang di-Pertuan Besar with the three other undangs on April 19.
However, Aminuddin said the state government did not recognise Tuanku Muhriz’s removal, as Mubarak had been lawfully removed as undang on May 13 last year for contravening 33 customary laws.
Following that, all 14 Umno assemblymen announced that they had withdrawn support for Aminuddin as the menteri besar, saying it was linked to the crisis involving the chieftains and Tuanku Muhriz.
Negeri Sembilan BN later claimed it had a simple majority in the 36-seat assembly to form the state government, with the support of PN’s five assemblymen.
However, Aminuddin said Tuanku Muhriz wanted him to continue as the menteri besar until the question of his majority support was determined.