KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 28 — At Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s (PPBM) annual general meeting (AGM) this weekend, the splinter Umno party is expected to debate how to shore up power despite making up less than 7 per cent of Parliament.

This includes whether to accept former lawmakers and members of Umno who left the Malay nationalist party when it lost power for the first time in history after governing the country for over six decades.

The previous Barisan Nasional (BN) administration had always been clearly led by Umno, which usually had the biggest share of Parliament, but the ruling Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) two largest parties are multiracial PKR and Chinese-dominant DAP with 50 and 42 seats respectively, compared to Malay nationalist PPBM’s 15. 

“Currently, DAP is the dominant party in PH, but I believe PPBM must be the dominant party in the coalition,” a PPBM delegate from Kedah told Malay Mail on condition of anonymity.

The anonymous delegate from Kedah pointed out that regardless of the situation, the Umno defectors will do their best to join a PH party and it was better for them to join PPBM instead of other coalition parties.

He believed it was very important for PH as a whole to have a strong Malay-based party leading the coalition — akin to how Umno had led BN — and argued that many current PPBM and PKR members had come from Umno’s ranks in the first place.

“We are taking them in because we don’t want them to join other parties. If not us, it will be PKR because many PPBM members and PKR members were from Umno.

“We need to be more like the Chinese in politics. Last time, DAP didn’t have Chinese support because the Chinese backed MCA and Gerakan. Now, many of Chinese, including Gerakan and MCA members, support DAP,” said the Northern delegate.

Speaking to Malay Mail, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia associate professor Faisal Hazis believed there will be two factions at the AGM — those who support the party leadership in allowing certain former Umno members into the party and those against the idea.

In his eyes, those supporting the idea find that the presence of more MPs will strengthen the party’s position in Parliament as it currently holds only 15 federal constituencies, while those opposing it are concerned about the possibility of Umno warlords taking over the party.

Three of PPBM’s 15 MPs defected from Umno, including former minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed and former deputy minister Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin.

“I’m sure there are members who would echo this narrative that most of PPBM leaders are pushing, but there are some members, especially the grassroots and candidates who failed in the elections against some of these former Umno MPs, who don’t like it,” said Faisal.

“The big question is would they (ex-Umno) be the ones picked to carry the party flag going into the next election?

“And I’m sure these defeated PPBM candidates would not want that to happen because they’ve been with the party much earlier and they share the spirit of the party, the reform spirit, unlike most of these Umno MPs.”

Another academic, UTM’s Perdana School Associate Professor Azmi Hassan, agreed with Faisal that the topic will be hotly debated as there are PPBM members who disagreed with prime minister and PPBM chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s view that having former Umno members will be a boon to the party.

Both he and Faisal pointed out grassroots concern of the strong possibility that Umno culture will seep into the party and that it poses a threat not only to PPBM itself, but also PH as a whole.

“It is no secret that Dr Mahathir’s stand on the issue is something positive to the party as he finds that this will strengthen it within PH, but it is sometimes contrary to what PPBM members think as they find former Umno members would not only pose a threat to them, but also to PH.

“It is interesting to see how the delegates will manoeuvre their debate so as not to greatly offend Dr Mahathir,” said Azmi.

An exco member from PPBM’s Youth wing Armada, however, viewed positively Umno members defecting to PPBM.

He pointed out that Malays have entered a new political dynamic and finds that there is no harm in accepting former Umno members as long as they have gone through a strict vetting process.

He also wants to ensure that ex-Umno MPs, warlords or ordinary members joining PPBM will not be allowed to hold top party positions, no matter how senior or experienced they may have been as BN politicians.

“Malay politics has entered a new dynamic and to control any disorder in building the position of the Malays, there is no harm in uniting the Malay leaders by accepting the former Umno representatives,” said the Armada exco member who requested anonymity.

“But we have to oppose it based on the rule of law, in that if there are those who are involved or proven to have criminal records, then they should not join PPBM.

“PPBM needs a mechanism that will ensure those who have miraculously appeared in the party do not miraculously become top leaders in the party. They need to learn the hardships and have to be a ‘macai’ first.”

In essence, Pacific Research Centre Malaysia principal adviser Oh Ei Sun summed up the entire dilemma faced by PPBM perfectly.

From his perspective, the senior leadership would prefer to select acceptable Umno defectors in order to bring PPBM’s numbers in Dewan Rakyat up.

At the same time, the party’s rank and file are apprehensive about the potential recruits as some of the former Umno leaders will compete for their share of the spoils of war.

“But I think during the AGM, there will of course be some grumbling over this, but overall Dr Mahathir is still firmly in charge of the party and it is ultimately up to him to decide the speed and nature of taking in these frogs,” said Oh.