How likely is it that PAS will support Anwar?

The only condition for PAS to consider supporting Anwar in governing may be related to its level of confidence in Bersatu.

Nehru Satyamurthy

Under the original Westminster-based parliamentary system in the UK, being in opposition or in government is a matter of luck, not a matter of mentality.

If luck favors you, you will be part of the ruling government; if luck does not favor you, you will be part of the opposition. Whether luck favors you or not depends on the mood of the people. For example, if the people prefer war to peace and you belong to a party that wants to spend more money on defense rather than education, luck will favor you and you will be part of the ruling government. However, if the people prefer peace, you will most likely end up in the opposition.

In any case, whether you are sitting with the opposition or the government, you are considered to be someone with a gentleman’s mentality. That is why, whether you are in the opposition or the government, you will still be addressed as “honourable so-and-so”. No matter which side of the aisle you sit on, you are considered a distinguished person, precisely because it is not the mentality that distinguishes you from the person sitting across the aisle, but luck. If your luck changes, your seating arrangement will also change, and when your seating arrangement changes, you will be able to perform your new role without any problem, because you have the mentality to perform any role.

However in Malaysia, whether you are in the opposition or part of the ruling government is not actually a matter of luck but a matter of mentality.

It is not a matter of luck because whoever rules Malaysia will be from UMNO. We may think that the 2018 and 2022 elections were a watershed moment where the government finally changed hands to different parties, but the fact is that in 2018 and 2022, the government changed hands only because the opposition was led by Mahathir and Anwar respectively, who are both UMNO people at heart, but they just fell out with UMNO.

Muhyiddin and Ismail Sabri, who briefly served as heads of government between 2018 and 2022, are also members of UMNO. Ismail Sabri remains an UMNO member, while Muhyiddin broke away from UMNO during Najib’s administration.

Only UMNO figures are allowed to rule Malaysia because perhaps only UMNO figures are seen as having a ruling mentality. Opposition figures such as PAS or DAP, or supporting party figures such as MCA or MIC, are not seen as having a ruling mentality.

So what does this ruling mentality look like?

Well, the ruling mentality is not the same as the gentleman mentality. If the ruling mentality is the same as the gentleman mentality, then those who are in power today can serve as the opposition tomorrow if their fortunes change. But as we have seen in the Malaysian context, this is not the case because UMNO cannot serve as the opposition. It simply does not know how to survive without being in power.

In addition, another way to understand the ruling party’s mentality is to compare it with the opposite of the ruling party’s mentality, that is, the opposition party’s mentality.

The opposition mentality is what members of political parties like PAS or DAP have.

Currently, PAS and DAP are the two largest political parties in Malaysia, but despite this, PAS is still an opposition party, while DAP is only an auxiliary party of the ruling government rather than a major party.

This situation has occurred because DAP and PAS simply do not have the governing mentality to be able to govern.

What they have is an oppositional mentality, which makes them tend to oppose those who are above them rather than serve those who are below them.

This is why parties like DAP will oppose the government even if they join it. More importantly, because they have an opposition mentality, when they form the government, they may even oppose the people because then the people will be their bosses.

It is because of the opposition mentality of DAP people that DAP ministers like Loke Siew Fook and Sim Chee Boon went against the Auditor-General even though the Auditor-General is part of the government. It is the same reason why Yeoh called the people “sore losers” after being criticized for being a big fan of a Thai badminton player. They did this because it is in their nature to think that everyone is higher than themselves and go against those they consider to be higher than themselves.

PAS also shares this opposition mentality, and it is precisely because of this opposition mentality that it tends to ally with parties such as Bersatu or Umno, even though it is currently the most powerful Malay party in the country and can probably fight Bersatu and Umno on its own.

The reason why PAS tends to do this is because PAS knows its position. It knows that it cannot govern, so it is just seeking a role that suits its mentality, which is to be a supporting party to the governing government.

It tends to ally with either Umno or Bersatu because it recognises that Umno and Bersatu figures have a ruling mindset.

It is for this reason that PAS may also be willing to form an alliance with Anwar if the rumours are true, as PAS may recognise that Anwar also has a governing mentality and therefore could also become a supporter of Anwar’s rule if the conditions are right.

The only condition for PAS to consider supporting Anwar in power is likely to be related to its level of confidence in Bersatu. As long as PAS believes that Bersatu leaders such as Muhyiddin and Hamzah can lead the country, it will maintain its confidence in Bersatu. When it loses confidence in Bersatu’s leadership, it will be willing to ally with Anwar.