JOHOR BARU, June 10 ― With talk of multi-party political cooperation to defeat the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition for the coming 15th general election (GE15), the Parit Sulong Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) division said it will abide by its leadership decision but will reject working together with DAP.
Its division chief Datuk Ariss Samsudin said this includes any decision made by the leadership of Perikatan Nasional (PN) and their party on GE15, especially on the formation of the 'big tent' approach with other political parties to defeat BN.
“However, whatever the final decision, Parit Sulong Bersatu hopes that the decision to work with DAP like in the past will not be repeated.
“We were working closely with DAP in the previous general election (GE14). Hopefully, this kind of cooperation will not happen again in GE15,” he said in a statement issued here today.
This follows recent developments with PN chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin saying that the coalition has yet to hold official discussions with Pakatan Harapan (PH) to jointly campaign for GE15. Both DAP and Bersatu are embroiled in a bitter spat after the former under PH was ousted from federal power during the Sheraton Move political maneuvering led by Muhyiddin in 2020.
On political cooperation, Ariss said initiatives to discuss ways to avoid seat clashes against BN have been taken by certain parties in line with the one-on-one efforts announced by Muhyiddin earlier.
He added that Parit Sulong Bersatu also hopes that PAS, as a component of PN, will continue to be together with them in GE15 because the two parties must remain loyal to each other.
Meanwhile, Ariss also cleared the air on Bersatu’s struggle stressing that the party was not fighting to deceive the people, but to uphold the rights of the indigenous people, Malays and Muslims, as well as Malaysians of various races.
“Bersatu’s struggle is full of integrity. We will continue to fight to eradicate corruption and power abuse in Malaysia for the sake of the people and the country.
“The party’s struggle is also in line with PN's objectives,” he said.
Ariss pointed out that the current government, led by (prime minister) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, is a coalition government consisting of both BN and PN.
“We should never confuse the people about this fact,” he said.
In April, both PN and PH leaderships were said to be open to discuss on political cooperation to go against BN if a general election is called.
However, DAP said it will not cooperate with Bersatu and PAS if snap polls are called, with party chairman Lim Guan Eng stating that he does not trust the two parties’ leaders.
DAP has blamed Bersatu’s Muhyiddin as the former prime minister was who was one of the masterminds behind the Sheraton Move, which led to PH losing federal power and collapsing back in 2020.
Muhyiddin was subsequently appointed the country’s eighth prime minister with the support of BN and PAS, only to resign 17 months later after Umno retracted support for the Pagoh MP and his PN-led government.
