Bersatu touts Muhyiddin as Malaysia's next PM, but PAS' Dr Sam a challenger

Partners in opposition Perikatan Nasional tout respective strengths in leadership contest

- Lu Wei Hoong

SHAH ALAM - He was described as an international leader and a supreme commander, and praised for stabilising the party after a fractious internal election. In his speech, he referred to US President-elect Donald Trump's stance on illegal immigration as a strategy to win the hearts and minds of Malaysian voters.

This posturing at Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia's annual general meeting from Nov 29 to Dec 1 was aimed at bolstering its president Muhyiddin Yassin as leader of, and next prime minister candidate for, the opposition alliance Perikatan Nasional (PN).

It was also designed to fend off a recent challenge for the position mounted by Parti Islam Se Malaysia (PAS), Bersatu's partner in the PN alliance.

On Nov 22, PAS spiritual leader Hashim Iasin launched the first salvo against Muhyiddin by requesting that the Islamic party be given the position of PN chief and "poster boy" to better reflect the relative strengths of PN's component parties.

At the federal level, PAS has 43 MPs against Bersatu's 25 after six Bersatu members defected to support the government.

And while PN collectively forms the state governments of Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu, PAS assemblymen comprise the majority in these state legislatures, and do not need Bersatu's numbers to govern. All the chief ministers in these states are PAS leaders.

To add insult to injury, PAS youth chief Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden on Nov 27 proposed that the party's secretary-general, Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan, be appointed the secretary- general of PN, citing his seniority as the chief administrator of the Islamic party since 2015.