Tempting, but will PM call snap polls?
KUALA LUMPUR: After emerging stronger from the recent Sabah state election but faced with testy relations between his Bersatu party and ally Umno, will Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin call a snap general election?
During the Sabah state election campaign, Muhyiddin hinted that a victory in Sabah could prompt him to call a general election sooner.
According to political watchers, while the convincing win in Sabah was a fillip for Muhyiddin personally, it has resulted in further straining relationship with Umno.
Umno was forced to concede its claim on the post of Sabah Chief Minister, yielding the position to Sabah Bersatu chief Datuk Hajiji Noor despite — as the party pointed out — having won the most state seats among the individual parties that contested.
On Thursday, Umno deputy president Datuk Mohamad Hasan openly questioned the value of his party’s cooperation with Bersatu and Perikatan Nasional, noting that it has now cost the party control of Sabah that it had once held for nearly three decades.
The agitation among sections of Umno also came amid the backdrop of Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s claim of having secured a “formidable” majority with which to take over the government.
“Subject to Covid-19 developments, the Prime Minister will be increasingly tempted to call early elections to capitalise on the momentum,” Eurasia Group’s Asia director, Peter Mumford, told the Straits Times.
On Thursday, Mohamad also removed his party’s mask of conviviality towards Bersatu and PN when he openly called them “political rivals”.
It is unclear how advanced seat negotiations among Umno, PAS, and Bersatu were at the moment, but these would be unavoidably difficult as all three parties appeal primarily to the Malay electorate in the peninsula.
Umno leaders such as Johor deputy chief Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed previously said the party would not concede any traditional seats to Bersatu, suggesting that the clashes between allies that took place in Sabah would be repeated with a greater intensity in an early general election.
One Umno source who spoke to ST suggested that there was also appetite in the party for obstacles to be put in the path of PN administrations, both state and federal.
Previously, Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the support of his party and Barisan Nasional lawmakers for the PN government was solely based on confidence and supply, but the Umno source told ST even this could not be taken for granted.
“It would be a popular decision with the grassroots to play hardball.
“We can even block the Budget,” the person said.
By convention, failure to pass the federal Budget is considered a successful vote of no-confidence against the government.
An early general election amid a climate of rising Covid-19 cases could be deeply unpopular, as there has been growing anger among Malaysians who blamed politicians for triggering an unnecessary Sabah election even as cases spread across the state.
The cases have now spread to other parts of the country and forced Malaysia to contemplate the possible reintroduction of the strict measures that were needed to contain the previous wave.
It would also come at a high financial cost to the country, with the Election Commission estimating that it could take RM1.2 billion to hold a general election alongside Covid-19 or double what it cost for the 14th edition in 2018.