One Year Later: Why Did Dr M Make a U-Turn on the Mega-Malay Party?

Before the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government, there were signs the coalition was breaking from within.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad contributed in his own way to the frail Pakatan Harapan government foundation, creating a wave of anger and disbelief among the leaders.

Already shaken by the gay-sex tapes and a series of rape-corruption-sexual harassment accusations, Dr Mahathir made a call for Malay parties to dissolve and join his party, the Bersatu.

This would give his party a controlling majority in the PH, dissolving the lead the Keadilan and the DAP had in the coalition.

But pressed by the Pakatan leadership, it appears Dr Mahathir made a massive U-turn in the mega-Malay party saga.

However, sources say everything is still out in the open on the dissolution of some parties or the simple formation of a coalition of Malay parties.

Pakatan is not in power and the mega-Malay party is still on the cards, some say.

Nevertheless, if Dr Mahathir wanted to rally the Malays together in unity under the aptly called ‘Bersatu’ party, it failed.

Others have taken the baton from him and are trying to build a mega-Malay alliance instead.

What Did Malaysia Learn From Last Year’s Political Upheavals?

This article on Linkedin tells us the lessons the entire country must learn from the breakup of the Pakatan Harapan government!

AN ALLIANCE OF MALAY PARTIES?

There are other ways to gather the Malay MP’s together in Parliament.

An alliance of Malay parties could be the case and this is still a thorn in the Pakatan’s future.

If all Malay-based parties are to join forces in Parliament (for some reason), They will command numerous seats.

At the time Mahathir proposed the formation of a mega party, Bersatu had 26, PAS 18, Umno 37, Amanah 13 and Warisan will give such an alliance 100 seats or more.

This was not enough to topple the Pakatan Harapan if that was the intended aim. They needed some Keadilan MPs to quit the party to join them to form this alliance.

We know what happened in February last year.

At that time, WorldFuture wrote that with the Pakatan in tatters, the Keadilan in shambles after the gay-sex video and Azmin Ali losing his grip on the party the chances of a break-up of the Keadilan was real.

But knowing Dr Mahathir, he is not in favour of an all-Malay government.

Breaking the PKR and extracting the Malay MP’s from it will not help Dr Mahathir’s plans.

It will divide Malaysia right in the middle just like the events preceding May 13 did, which is a divided country with two major ethnic groups pitted against each other.

Dr Mahathir did say in interviews he is against an all-Malay/Bumi government and Malaysia needs all communities to work together to succeed.

Hence, the belief that he may have called for Malay parties to join Bersatu or dissolve into Bersatu may not have the intended consequence.

He may have said that to rally the Malays to his cause while expanding the Bersatu’s reach in the PH and later outside would have been his aim.

Now he is targeting 98 seats in the next general elections under the banner of the Pejuang.

This means he is working on a plan to form his own mega-Malay party, though lately, he has also hinted he may return to Umno if the party was to return to its original struggle.