Any Pact With PH And DAP Must Be Guided By Principles, Says Bersatu Leader

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Any potential cooperation between Bersatu together with Pakatan Harapan (PH) consisting of DAP must be guided by political principles and areas of common ground, rather than simply being driven by electoral considerations, said Bersatu Supreme Council member Dr Afif Bahardin.

Afif acknowledged that there were fundamental policy differences between the two parties but said political cooperation ultimately required parties to identify issues on which they could work together.

“From the policy perspective, there are views in DAP that we do not agree with. I believe DAP also has views that it does not agree with in Bersatu.

“But ultimately, to form this coalition, we have to find the commonalities — what we can discuss and what we can work on,” he told TRP.

He was asked to comment on how Bersatu can work with PH component, DAP, following a previous fallout that led to the infamous 2020 Sheraton Move.

Fast forward to today, rumours are swirling that Bersatu could be forming an electoral pact with PH to contest the upcoming Melaka state election following its fallout with Perikatan Nasional (PN).

Afif, who is also the Taman Medan assemblyman, said Bersatu’s seats and those held by DAP would generally not directly clash, making electoral cooperation theoretically possible.

“Bersatu will not contest where DAP contests, DAP will not contest where Bersatu contests,” he said.

However, Afif stressed that Bersatu’s priority remained strengthening its Malay support base before deciding on any future political alignment.

He also defended Bersatu’s record on integrity, describing it as the cleanest among Malay-based political parties in the country.

Afif said Bersatu’s appeal was built around its anti-corruption stance, integrity and its record of championing issues affecting ordinary Malaysians.

He also pointed to the party’s role in the historic 2018 general election, when the Pakatan Harapan coalition defeated Barisan Nasional, saying Bersatu was the only Malay party that had managed to defeat Umno and BN at the federal level.

According to Afif, Bersatu’s association with former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin also remained an important part of the party’s political identity, particularly among voters who remembered the PN administration during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Now, in terms of the integrity of the party as an ideology, it is still intact,” he said.

Afif said the party’s leaders could change over time, but this did not necessarily mean its ideological foundations would disappear.

He added that any future cooperation with DAP would therefore have to be assessed carefully and based on what Bersatu could accept without compromising its core principles.

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Any Pact With PH And DAP Must Be Guided By Principles, Says Bersatu Leader
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