Working with BN has cons for PH too, says PKR's Hassan

Free Malaysia Today

29-04-2025

Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Karim said MCA and MIC were not losing political relevance due to PH but because race-based parties had grown less popular among non-Malay voters.
PETALING JAYA : Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Karim has admitted that Pakatan Harapan's cooperation with Barisan Nasional is a double-edged sword, following criticism by a Johor MCA leader over the party's dwindling political relevance.
However, Hassan said the reality was that both coalitions needed each other at this juncture.
The PKR man described the current PH-BN partnership as a symbiotic, mutually dependent relationship which brings pros and cons to both coalitions.
'There are positives and negatives to this cooperation. It affects not only BN but also PH,' he told FMT, while warning MCA that breaking away from BN would be political suicide.
The Umno-led BN played a crucial role in enabling Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to form the unity government in the wake of the 2022 general election (GE15), which resulted in a hung Parliament.
However, internal tensions and ideological differences between parties in the unity government have continued to spark debate over the sustainability and future direction of the alliance.
MCA secretary-general Chong Sin Woon recently called for the party to chart its own course if BN continues to delay making clear decisions regarding its direction.
Johor MCA Youth chief Heng Zhi Li subsequently said PH was not 'saving' BN but dismantling it from within, adding that blind cooperation with PH would only render BN parties politically irrelevant.
Hassan argued that MCA and MIC – the core non-Malay components of BN – were not losing political relevance due to PH but because race-based parties had grown less popular among non-Malay voters.
He said the emergence of coalitions like Gagasan Rakyat, Barisan Alternatif, Pakatan Rakyat and then Pakatan Harapan sparked a shift towards building a multiracial national identity.
'These multiracial coalitions have rendered their race-based ideology increasingly irrelevant,' he said.
Separately, a senior PH MP, who asked to remain anonymous, said MCA was disgruntled with BN's cooperation with PH as it was not in MCA's interest for the alliance to continue.
He said while Umno seemed to be slowly making a comeback based on recent by-election results, MCA remained sidelined with nearly all seats with sizable Chinese voters dominated by PH parties.
'If PH and BN form an alliance for the next general election, how is MCA going to contest for these seats when they were won by PH in GE15?
'It's like how PAS cannot work with Umno, because both are vying for the same Malay-majority seats,' said the MP.