A POLITICAL analyst has poured cold water on recent rumours that MCA and MIC might be leaving the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition to join its nemesis Perikatan Nasional (PN).
In an FMT report, National Professors Council senior fellow Datuk Dr Jeniri Amir said jumping ship to join the opposition coalition will not change the fortunes of the two parties.
“It is more difficult to be in the opposition, why would they want that?” he was quoted as saying by the news portal.
Jeniri was commenting on Bersatu associate wing information chief S. Subramaniam’s invitation for MCA and MIC to join PN.
Alleging that both MCA and MIC had been sidelined by the present government, Subramaniam had, on March 20, suggested that the two parties abandon their current coalition and the unity government.
He had also claimed that both parties were not being appreciated by BN chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, which was evident in the fact that none of their leaders was in the Cabinet line-up.
On this matter, Jeniri told the news portal that it would not make sense for MCA and MIC to join PN as “their voters are non-Muslims”.
“PAS is perceived as being insensitive to the interests of non-Muslim voters,” he pointed out, addint that both parties would not be able to win the non-Muslim vote as long as PAS was part of the Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin-led coalition.
Jeniri further acknowledged that should MCA and MIC make the move to join PN, they would face the same fate as Gerakan which had failed to win any parliamentary seats.
Prof Azmi Hassan of Akademi Nusantara noted that MCA and MIC had little to offer the coalition, with both parties only managing to win their three Malay-majority seats (two from MCA and one from MIC) thanks to UMNO supporters.
“With their three seats, it’s only natural that the unity government does not prioritise them,” he told the news portal, adding that this was the nature of politics.
Meanwhile, Prof James Chin of the University of Tasmania’s Asia Institute opined that MCA and MIC joining PN might help make the coalition look more multiracial.
The two parties may also have less trouble competing for seats with Gerakan, he noted, adding that the absence of both parties would not affect the unity government.
“They’re insignificant in the unity government. They only have three seats in total,” Chin asserted. – March 27, 2023
Main pic credit: WartaRakyat
