
Working with BN has cons for PH too, says PKR's Hassan
PETALING JAYA : Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Karim has admitted that Pakatan Harapan's cooperation with Barisan Nasional is a double-edged sword, following criticism by a Johor MCA leader over the party's dwindling political relevance.
However, Hassan said the reality was that both coalitions needed each other at this juncture.
The PKR man described the current PH-BN partnership as a symbiotic, mutually dependent relationship which brings pros and cons to both coalitions.
'There are positives and negatives to this cooperation. It affects not only BN but also PH,' he told FMT, while warning MCA that breaking away from BN would be political suicide.
The Umno-led BN played a crucial role in enabling Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to form the unity government in the wake of the 2022 general election (GE15), which resulted in a hung Parliament.
However, internal tensions and ideological differences between parties in the unity government have continued to spark debate over the sustainability and future direction of the alliance.
MCA secretary-general Chong Sin Woon recently called for the party to chart its own course if BN continues to delay making clear decisions regarding its direction.
Johor MCA Youth chief Heng Zhi Li subsequently said PH was not 'saving' BN but dismantling it from within, adding that blind cooperation with PH would only render BN parties politically irrelevant.
Hassan argued that MCA and MIC – the core non-Malay components of BN – were not losing political relevance due to PH but because race-based parties had grown less popular among non-Malay voters.
He said the emergence of coalitions like Gagasan Rakyat, Barisan Alternatif, Pakatan Rakyat and then Pakatan Harapan sparked a shift towards building a multiracial national identity.
'These multiracial coalitions have rendered their race-based ideology increasingly irrelevant,' he said.
Separately, a senior PH MP, who asked to remain anonymous, said MCA was disgruntled with BN's cooperation with PH as it was not in MCA's interest for the alliance to continue.
He said while Umno seemed to be slowly making a comeback based on recent by-election results, MCA remained sidelined with nearly all seats with sizable Chinese voters dominated by PH parties.
'If PH and BN form an alliance for the next general election, how is MCA going to contest for these seats when they were won by PH in GE15?
'It's like how PAS cannot work with Umno, because both are vying for the same Malay-majority seats,' said the MP.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Barnama
2 hours ago
- Barnama
UMNO Must Lead Digital Narrative, Reach Youth To Stay Relevant– Zambry
KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 (Bernama) -- UMNO must lead in shaping the digital narrative, strengthen its presence on new media and engage young voters to remain relevant, UMNO Supreme Council member Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir said today. He said politics has entered the digital era in which information, perceptions and sentiments are rapidly shaped through social media and online platforms. 'This new challenge requires UMNO to adopt fresher, more flexible and pragmatic approaches. We cannot remain bound by the old ways,' he said in a Facebook post.


Free Malaysia Today
3 hours ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Umno must act on principle even if unpopular, says Zahid
Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi called for party members to take BN's failure to form the government in the past two general elections as a lesson and turning point to rebuild the party's strength. (Bernama pic) RAUB : Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said that in today's challenging political landscape, decisions made by the party are aimed at ensuring the country's stability and future, even if those decisions are unpopular. Explaining the matter when officiating the Raub Umno division delegates' meeting, he emphasised that in any struggle, not all decisions taken will be comfortable, but they must be principled. 'No matter how high our position is in the party or government, we must realise that every post is a trust that must be carried out with full responsibility,' he said. Zahid, who is also Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman and deputy prime minister, said what Umno needs most right now is unity of purpose and a strong fighting spirit, without faltering when tested. He also reminded party members to take Umno and BN's failure to form the government in the past two general elections as a lesson and turning point to rebuild the party's strength. 'We have been tested twice in the general elections… enough of the divisions, quarrels, shooting at each other, and hidden saboteurs within. 'Let us learn from past weaknesses and fix Umno and BN from within. Hopefully, we can be dominant once again,' he said. At a press conference later, Zahid said Umno would look into whether any of its members had participated in the rally held in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. 'Umno is now part of the unity government, and we must strengthen, not undermine, the government that is in place,' he said.


The Star
5 hours ago
- The Star
US Treasury chief says trade talks with China to continue this week in Sweden
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said that he would meet his Chinese counterparts in Sweden this week to continue trade talks between the two countries, suggesting the current pause in sky-high tariffs aimed at each other could be extended. Bessent told Fox Business that he would speak with Chinese officials on Monday and Tuesday for a third round of high-level talks in Stockholm – following face-to-face discussions he held with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Geneva and London – to work out a likely extension of the pause beyond mid-August. Beijing has yet to confirm the Stockholm talks, but Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said in a post on X on Tuesday that his country would play host to the US-China negotiations next week. After US President Donald Trump's announcement of 'reciprocal' tariffs on April 2, Washington and Beijing raised punitive levies on each other's exports to triple-digit percentage levels. Since then, trade relations have thawed somewhat as the countries have engaged in talks, marked by a June telephone call between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. On Monday Bessent said that the talks were 'in a good place', a sanguine take on negotiations echoed by Beijing's embassy in Washington, which said 'new progress' had been made in resolving each other's economic and trade concerns. Separately on Tuesday, Trump told reporters that Xi has invited him to visit Beijing and that he would accept. He added that exports of rare earth and magnets to the US may no longer be a thorny issue. 'President Xi has invited me to China, and we'll probably be doing that in the not too distant future, a little bit out, but not too distant. And I've been invited by a lot of people, and we'll make those decisions pretty soon,' he said during a meeting in the Oval Office with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr. 'We have a very good relationship. In fact, the magnets, which is a little complex piece of material, but the magnets are coming out very well. They're sending them in record numbers. We're getting along with China very well,' said Trump. In a possible signal of improving ties, China's market administration watchdog said earlier on Tuesday that it had suspended its anti-trust probe into American multinational chemical company DuPont. Beijing launched its investigation into DuPont in early April, after Trump began slapping new levies on Chinese goods. Bessent said on Monday that he hoped to raise in future talks the issue of China's purchases of Russian and Iranian oil. Beijing's embassy in Washington responded to those comments by saying that 'the international community, including China, has conducted normal cooperation with Iran and Russia within the framework of international law. 'This is reasonable and lawful without harm done to any third party, and deserves to be respected and protected,' said the embassy. China observers said that Beijing would oppose Washington's bid to link tariff talks to Chinese relations with US adversaries. 'Beijing sees its ties and transactions with Russia and Iran as just and fair and conforms to international laws and may be unlikely to make compromises for the sake of US lowering tariffs,' said Xin Qiang, an international studies professor at Fudan University in Shanghai. 'Beijing is mindful not to fall into the trap as US uses tariffs to pursue its geopolitical agenda.' During the Fox Business interview Bessent also mentioned his expectations for China's government to rein in manufacturing overcapacity and launch structural adjustments to stimulate domestic consumption to benefit American manufacturing. 'President Trump is remaking the US into a manufacturing economy. If we could do that together – more U.S. manufacturing, more Chinese consumption – that would be a home run for the Chinese Communist Party and the global economy,' he said. - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST