Azalina: BN-Perikatan alliance not fixed, cooperation depends on political landscape in each state
PUTRAJAYA, Aug 3 — Barisan Nasional (BN) leader Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said today that her coalition’s alliance with Perikatan Nasional (PN) was not a fixed arrangement and that any cooperation would hinge on the local political landscape.
BN and PN teamed up again in the Negeri Sembilan polls on Saturday, securing more than a two-thirds majority in the state assembly to oust the two-term PH government.
It was the second major blow to the coalition led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim after the Johor state election.
Some analysts believe the BN-PN victory in the southern peninsula state could effectively spell the end of Anwar’s so-called unity government, but BN leaders have repeatedly said the election results in Negeri Sembilan and Johor would not affect the arrangement at the federal level.
Azalina reiterated that position this morning.
“I view the states and the federal level as being different… because each state has its own state constitution, its own state leadership, and its own Sultan or Ruler,” she told reporters at the Legal Affairs Division’s (BHEUU) monthly assembly here today.
“So, to me, the states are somewhat different from the federal level and cannot be equated. The party leadership has stated many times that the federal level is different from the states.”
The BN-PN electoral pact swept 25 of the 36 seats in the state legislative assembly, with Barisan winning 18 and its partner PN securing seven.
PH was reduced to 11 seats, down from the 17 it secured in the 2023 state election.
PH heavyweights such as Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun and Anthony Loke were among those defeated. Aminuddin had served as PH’s menteri besar for eight years, while Loke is a senior minister who had held the Chennah seat for 22 years.
The back-to-back BN-PN victories have fuelled speculation that Barisan could seek to retain the same formula, with the two coalitions potentially aiming for a federal takeover. There is already talk that the two blocs could join forces in the upcoming Melaka state election.
Azalina said such a pact was not guaranteed, citing PH-BN cooperation in the Sabah polls as an example. The alliance made little impact in the east Malaysian state, with PH’s strongest component party, DAP, seen as the biggest loser.
“We see that in Johor, we [BN] are going solo. In Negeri Sembilan, we are cooperating. Perhaps in Melaka, we are not sure yet how the formation will be,” the minister said.
“If you look at Sabah, we are indirectly going together with PH. So, the formation in each state is different, [based on] the decisions of the political parties themselves.”
