Bersatu is anything but bersatu

The latest opposition MP to back the government of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is Azizi Abu Naim (PN-Gua Musang).

He is not the first one to do so. The credit for the pioneer goes to Datuk Iskandar Dzulkarnain Abdul Khalid (PN-Kuala Kangsar).

He was followed by Datuk Dr Suhaili Abdul Rahman (PN-Labuan).

An interesting common factor in all their announcements is that they would remain in Bersatu even though they have decided to support Anwar.

From a legal perspective it appears that Azizi, Iskandar and Suhaili have found a legal loophole to circumvent the constitution amendments that bars party hopping.

The trio also retained their respective seats without having to face a by-election.

This is because the amendments effectively barred lawmakers from hopping individually.

The trio have effectively effeminated Bersatu as the party would not be able to reclaim the seat via by-elections.

And the presence of the trio in the party only serves to weaken the party.

Only time would determine whether the trio would be sacked from the party or not.

Anything but bersatu

As for the party that they are in, Bersatu is anything but bersatu.

In Negeri Sembilan the opposition within Bersatu and Perikatan Nasional against the state chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu is growing.

In the latest episode, even Pas is backing allegations made by the state Bersatu information wing chief Badrul Hisham Shaharin.

Bersatu needs to know that what the party is experiencing now is karma. Plain and simple.

That is how it built itself into a party that it is now.

Bersatu chief Tan Sri Mahiaddin Yassin and party secretary general Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin were senior Umno stalwarts prior to Bersatu.

This party’s growth isn’t organic as Pas and Umno. At best, one can describe it as a defective Umno clone.

The party still hasn’t grown its grass root support to the optimum. As a result of that, its party machinery is a juvenile.

Dah cukup jumlah

In conclusion, a quote from Pas president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang comes to mind.

“Dah cukup jumlah,” he said after meeting the Agong. This was post GE15 and no government was formed yet since no coalition had a simple majority.

Basically he claimed that PN had enough numbers to form the government.

Bersatu needs to do its housekeeping to ensure its “jumlah” is intact before it dreams of forming a convincing, formidable government.