KUALA LUMPUR: The numbers of parliamentary and state seats to be contested by Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) proves that the party is trying to dominate the opposition coalition, while also cementing its position beyond the 14th General Elections.
Political analyst Dr Kamarul Zaman Yusoff said PPBM's greed in the division of seats between the parties in the opposition coalition will create further issues in the pact's quest to win the elections.
He said this was because there is already talk of dissatisfaction from within the coalition over the distribution of seats.
"As revealed by PKR vice president Rafizi Ramli, PPBM had initially requested 80 parliament seats in the peninsula and despite this being reduced to 52 seats, both PKR and Parti Amanah Negara (PAN) had to sacrifice many seats to give way to PPBM," said Kamarul.
He was commenting on the distribution of seats involving PPBM, which recently also saw that party receive the most number of candidatures for state seats in Johor among the four parties in the coalition.
PPBM Johor secretary Datuk Osman Sapian was quoted as saying the decision was made upon the approval of the presidents of all four parties in the opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan.
Kamarul said the seats distribution in Johor had incurred the wrath of PAN and the greed displayed by PPBM was uncalled for, especially since it was the newest party in the coalition.
"PPBM also have yet to fully register all its branches and divisions, which goes to show that it does not have a strong machinery," said Kamarul.
"The greed shown by PPBM in grabbing parliamentary seats is part of their strategy as should they command more parliamentary seats compared to PKR, it would justify their quest for a permanent post of Prime Minister, instead of an interim one," he said.
He said at state level, PPBM's greed was due its strategy of ensuring that should the opposition pact fail to win the parliamentary battle, they would need a state stronghold to sustain their struggle.
Meanwhile, a former PPBM founding member Kamarulazaman Habibur Rahman said PPBM was actually struggling in their preparations for the general elections despite being given the most number of seats due to the fact that most of the seats given to them were those that were hard to win.
"Due to the partisan attitude within the opposition coalition, they are actually not sincere in giving Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad opportunities," said Kamarulazaman.
"On the surface it looks like PPBM dominates the opposition pact, but in reality they know they cannot just depend on the former prime minister, who himself is actually very dependent on the other parties in the coalition. I believe PPBM will get least votes among the opposition parties."