00:00An analyst says the biggest threat to Barisan Nasional and Perikatan Nasional cooperation may not be a third party, but
00:08mutual suspicion between the two coalitions.
00:11Ahmad Zaharuddin Sane Ahmad Sabri of Global Asia Consulting said,
00:15BN needs PN for its electoral strength, but UMNO may eventually ask whether it is helping build the very force
00:22that could replace it.
00:24For PN, the dilemma is reversed. Closer cooperation with BN may boost its election prospects, but could also dilute the
00:32identity that made voters choose PN.
00:35Zaharuddin was responding to UMNO's Secretary General Ashraf Wajidi Dusuki, who warned that any party wishing to work with UMNO
00:43must be wary of third party influence.
00:46Ashraf cited UMNO's Muafakat National Pact with PAS, which he said failed because of interference from another party.
00:54Such as Bersatu.
00:55Zaharuddin argued that genuinely strong alliances should not be threatened by other political players.
01:01For him, BN and PN need each other, but neither wants the other to become too powerful.
01:08Meanwhile, political analyst Wong Chin Huat said,
01:15Wong noted that Wawasan is ideologically similar to UMNO and could challenge it for the same pool of Malay voters.
01:22He also said PAS would likely prefer Wawasan over UMNO if it had to support a prime ministerial candidate because
01:30Wawasan is weaker and easier to control.
01:33Wong added that Malay parties are often hyper-competitive and distrustful of each other,
01:39making it harder to sustain the Malay unity narrative when more players enter the field.
01:44From Mandawi Gapari, FMT.
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