Crisis in Perlis state signals growing power struggle inside Perikatan Nasional alliance

KUALA LUMPUR - The Menteri Besar of Perlis has offered to step down and three dissenting state lawmakers from his Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) were sacked, as months of uneasy relations between the two main parties in the Perikatan Nasional (PN) alliance erupted into the open in Malaysia’s smallest state.

The Perlis crisis was caused by a push to carry out several large projects in the state that did not comply with regulations, said Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, president of the Islamist PAS, PN’s lead faction, on Dec 26.

“The projects did not follow regulations – that’s wrong. Behind it, there is corruption; behind it, there are all sorts of things.

“He (Menteri Besar Mohd Shukri Ramli) couldn’t go along with it. I don’t need to mention who was involved,” he told a news conference in Terengganu, as quoted by Malaysiakini. “So when the pressure became intense, we had no choice but to act.”

The open in-fighting is unusual for Perlis, which was ruled quietly for decades by Umno-led Barisan Nasional, until it

lost to PN in the 2022 General Election

.

It has an area of about 820 sq km, compared with Singapore’s total land size of 735 sq km, and is rich in agricultural produce with padi fields, along with sugarcane, rubber and mango plantations.

Situated on the northernmost tip of Peninsular Malaysia, Perlis, with a population of just under 300,000, has a legislative assembly of 15 seats, 14 of which were won by the Malay-Muslim alliance PN in the 2022 General Election.

PAS has nine seats, while its partner, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, holds another five. The sole opposition seat is held by Parti Keadilan Rakyat.

The top leaders of PAS and Bersatu have been quietly locked in an internal conflict as they vie for dominance and who will be their joint prime ministerial candidate for the next general election, due in early 2028.

PN is the main opposition alliance in Malaysia’s federal Parliament, with the country governed by a multi-coalition led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Harapan.

The open feuding between PAS and Bersatu, a Malay nationalist party, capped months of rumblings within both central leaders of PAS and Bersatu, and within Perlis itself.

The tensions erupted on Dec 22 when Bersatu’s five legislators, along with three from PAS, declared they had lost confidence in the Menteri Besar’s leadership. They subsequently submitted three names from Bersatu as possible replacements to the Raja of Perlis, Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Jamalullail, the state’s ruler.

The move triggered a cascade of events: PAS, in an unusual move, sacked its three dissenting legislators who sided with Bersatu.

Then, the cornered chief minister Mohd Shukri, 64, announced that he had

tendered his resignation

following an audience with the Raja of Perlis on Dec 25, citing health concerns.

“I submitted my letter of resignation to the Raja of Perlis at noon today. I leave it fully to his wisdom to consider my wish,” Mr Mohd Shukri said at a press conference.

The same day, the state assembly speaker declared that the three seats of the sacked PAS lawmakers were vacant – the Chuping, Bintong and Guar Sanji constituencies.

“Accordingly, I will officially notify the Election Commission (EC) of the contingent vacancies for the three state seats soon,” Speaker Rus’sele Eizan said at a press conference on Dec 25.

Although the law states that no by-elections are required after the assembly passed its third year on Dec 18, Mr Rus’sele argued that three simultaneous vacancies constituted a special circumstance that warranted the seats being filled to ensure stable governance.

“I will request that the EC hold a re-election to fill these vacancies. I will provide detailed reasons regarding the impact in my written notification to the EC,” he said.

In a Dec 25 statement, PAS deputy president Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man challenged Bersatu to mirror PAS’ action by disciplining its own dissenting lawmakers in the name of “intercoalition discipline”.

“Such actions are important as a sign of respect for component partners in PN as well as to ensure that the discipline and integrity of the coalition are maintained,” he said.

“PAS has taken action to discipline the party; now I feel Bersatu should do the same to its assemblymen.”

The clash in Perlis marks a sharp escalation in tensions between the coalition partners, which until recently had surfaced only through indirect attacks.

For Datuk Mahfuz Omar, the deputy president of Amanah, a party in Malaysia’s governing coalition, the rift had gone beyond differences of opinion into “open strife”.

“Everything failed. This proves an undeniable fact that the real problem is the internal power struggle within PAS and PN’s failure to control its own coalition,” he had said on Dec 25.

Political analyst Azmi Hassan of the Nusantara Academy of Strategic Research attributed the tension to Bersatu’s push to lead the PN coalition despite being the smaller partner and using the situation in Perlis to assert itself against PAS.

“This is a subtle warning by Bersatu that PAS needs them and should let them lead the coalition,” Mr Azmi told The Straits Times.

While PN jointly governs Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu, PAS has enough seats to form a government on its own in the latter three states. Nationally, PAS is also the single largest party in Parliament with 43 seats, compared with Bersatu’s 24.

“The rift is not limited to Perlis, as seen in the national debate over who is PN’s designated prime minister candidate, with PAS and Bersatu each having their own view,” Mr Azmi added.

On Sept 8, Bersatu unilaterally named former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin as its candidate for Malaysia’s next premier, in a move widely seen as deepening tensions between it and PAS.

PAS responded by saying it had “four lorry-loads” of prime minister-calibre candidates but declined to name them, arguing that premature announcements expose candidates to attacks.