IT’S full steam ahead for the newly minted Parti Bersama Malaysia as it officially confirms its participation in the upcoming Johor state polls.
Despite the state election being mere weeks away (polls must be held by July 29), BERSAMA sees it as an opportunity to test the party’s electoral machinery, identifying strengths and weaknesses, thus allowing the party to fine-tune its strategy for future campaigns.
This seemingly gung-ho approach was widely shared on various social media platforms such as on current affairs portal Siakap Keli’s Facebook page.
The announcement on the viral news page has generated 3.4K likes, 1.2K comments and 53 shares at the time of writing, denoting that this is both a trending and is hot kopitiam chatter.
However, a chief concern among some commenters was that BERSAMA would have the effect of splitting the already fragmented Malay vote.
“The Malay voice would be weakened by these splinter parties,” lamented another concerned nationalist.
The hunger for power is what keeps the Malays apart and that leads to new parties popping up, noted some observers wryly.
Of course, whenever the topic of Malay unity is brought up, inevitably there will be netizens (or cybertroopers) who would find ways to bring DAP into the equation by accusing the Rocketeers of conniving to split the Malay vote.
This brought a stinging rebuke from one commenter who argued that such anti-DAP rhetoric (with a PAP link) was old hat.
Such anti-DAP sentiment was also challenged by one commenter who claimed that DAP is strong given the Chinese are united in rallying behind the party as opposed to their Malays peers who may be the majority race yet found themselves split because of political affiliation.
This issue of splitting of Malay votes was fiercely debated with some contending that it all began with former premier Tun Mahathir Mohamad leaving UMNO all those years back.
One political affairs observer surmised that BERSAMA would be short-lived as it was heavily reliant on its top leaders’ charisma.
Likened to MUDA and its former president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, it was predicted that BERSAMA would similarly fare poorly at the ballot boxes or worse lose deposits as those candidates from Pejuang.
There were more than a few who simply gave short shrift to the new party, also indicating that they, too, believed BERSAMA would have a short shelf life.
One commenter seemed to hit the nail on the head when he exclaimed that it was 2026 with too much time being wasted on issues such as this.
Why bother with Malay leaders splitting votes as UMNO and Bersatu also shared the blame. “Let those who can deliver be elected” was the clear message here.
New parties are nothing new in Malaysia. As pointed out, they seem to rise like mushrooms after rain with many are not convinced that BERSAMA will have a lengthy tenure as a political force.
Aside from it potentially splitting the Malay vote in Johor (and in other polls), the suggestion that it is too heavily reliant on Rafizi Ramli’s charm offensive does ring true.
In the same statement, BERSAMA also announced a road show starting at Danga Bay Convention Centre, Johor tomorrow (June 6) followed by Melaka the next day (July 7) before taking on other states until July 18. – June 5, 2026
