Umno dreams of going solo after big win in Johor polls

Growing discourse over whether Umno-led BN should again contest national polls on its own

- Shannon Teoh

Umno’s thumping win at the Mahkota state by-election in its southern bastion of Johor on Sept 28 was celebrated not just by its Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, but across Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s unity government.

But, amid the euphoria, Umno’s eyes appear to have turned towards reclaiming the dominance of decades past, instead of merely being a cog in the broad, multi-coalition Anwar administration.

For proponents of the ruling alliance, winning four of every five ballots cast indicates the growing acceptance of BN by supporters of Datuk Seri Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) pact, pointing the way to a winning partnership at the next general election, or GE16, due by early 2028.

“This victory proves the formula of cooperation between BN and PH under the unity government framework can combine our respective support and strength to achieve victory in elections,” said Democratic Action Party (DAP) secretary-general Anthony Loke, whose party supplies the most MPs to the government bench.

However, there has been growing discourse over whether the Umno-led BN - especially after winning back in early August the Nenggiri state seat in opposition stronghold Kelantan - should again contest the national polls on its own. This is despite the 2022 General Election outcome that saw BN, which governed Malaysia from independence until 2018, emerging well behind PH and opposition coalition Perikatan Nasional (PN).

BN suffered its worst general election result in 2022, winning just 30 of 222 parliamentary seats, but remained in Malaysia’s ruling alliance after a hung Parliament meant Mr Anwar needed to add parties outside of PH to govern. Since then, BN has been in an electoral pact with PH, with only one candidate representing Mr Anwar’s unity government in any given contest.