KUALA LUMPUR, May 15 — It was not long ago that Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN) were bitter rivals, with the former playing up Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as a bogeyman for the voters if they were to trust the latter with their votes.

Who would have thought that not only Ahmad Zahid is now the deputy to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s prime minister, let alone one of his biggest supporters and cheerleaders?

Putting decades of enmity aside, leaders from both sides yesterday made nice as they turned up dressed in white to the inaugural national convention for the coalition government calling itself unity government.

The message was clear: with both political pacts and their allies now part of an unlikely government, a show of unity is needed to ensure a long-lasting relationship to bring stability to a country that has been wrecked by uncertainties, defections and three times of government changes in the space of five years.

1. Umno’s history cast a long shadow

For most of the political leaders from DAP and East Malaysian parties, yesterday was the first time they stepped foot into Umno’s headquarters in the World Trade Centre — even for those who have been on the political scene for decades.

DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke, for example, admitted to the weird feeling of addressing the Dewan Merdeka which contributed to his nervousness.

After all, DAP had itself been Umno’s political bogeyman in the last few decades.

PH Youth chief Kelvin Yii, also from DAP, similarly expressed his nervousness on that stage while speaking with other Youth wing leaders at the Dewan Tun Hussein Onn in the morning session.

Parti Warisan president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal — who until 2016 had served Umno for more than two decades — told the crowd how happy he was to speak in the hall after so long and how he had forgotten what it felt like to be on that stage.

The biggest reaction, however, was for Anwar — formerly ostracised and later demonised by Umno — who said he could not believe that one day he would be welcomed into the World Trade Centre with open arms.

He got more than that. His speech was met by a standing ovation, especially after he spoke of his gratefulness for Ahmad Zahid’s support and asked delegates to give his administration a chance, including rooting out systemic corruption.

2. Youth wings take lead on olive branch

In recent times, Umno’s Youth wing was renowned for its strident and firebrand image — brandishing keris and all.

Yesterday marked a change of tact with its chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh taking the first reconciliation step by apologising for his tirade against ally Parti Amanah Negara last week, for president Mohamad Sabu’s appointment of five PH leaders to head statutory bodies under his ministry’s purview.

Dr Akmal said he wishes for both sides to move on and work together to keep a stable government, develop policies for the youth and more. In response, PH’s Yii said how he too feels that by cooperating the grand coalition can achieve more.

This sentiment was shared by the other youth leaders as well like MCA’s Datuk Nicole Wong Siaw Ting, MICs Raven Kumar Krishnasamy, Upko’s Felix Joseph Saang, Amanah Women Youth Chief Nurthaqaffah Nordin, PKR Youth chief Adam Adli Halim and Amanah Youth chief Mohd Hasbi Muda.

During the event, they were also reminded of the need to join forces by political analyst Zokhri Idris, who said that young voters just want a prosperous and stable economy along with better job opportunities, rather than their representatives bickering with each other.

3. Ahead of state polls, grassroots still wary of alliance

Speaking with grassroots delegates, Malay Mail found that the sentiment on top did not necessarily filter through to the bottom.

Admittedly, many were happy with the union as they felt it gave the country some stability and focus can now be shifted to public concerns such as housing issues, floods, poor economy, low value of the ringgit, lack of foreign investments and an overall feeling of stagnation.

However, one Umno member who wished to be anonymous wondered if the union would last.

"What if BN won Selangor and took it from PH? Would they be happy? Also the seat allocations haven’t been finalised so I’m sure some won’t be happy. The question is can they keep quiet and go along,” he asked.

But a PH member pointed out that without the alliance, the government parties would risk losing to PAS and Perikatan Nasional.

"We don’t know what they’re up to, do we? They got a lot of support at GE15 so can’t take them lightly.

"The big question here is can the youth members work together, campaign together? This we must wait and see,” she said.

All in all, while most said the unprecedented alliance is still unpredictable especially during the upcoming state elections — it would still serve all parties better to work together than fight each other.

"The numbers are important. Now when someone from PH tells someone from BN to vote a particular way they actually may listen and not vote in opposition. In the end, this will benefit us. I mean we need some stability as we still see investors coming in very slowly.

"They want to see a stable government, stable ringgit and good environmental conditions if they want to come and invest here, if not forget it we will be stuck in the doldrums for another five years or less,” one delegate said.

The convention yesterday was attended by 19 parties and four pacts within the coalition government: PH, BN, Gabungan Parti Sarawak and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah.