Amanah and PKR MPs question PAS-led Perikatan Nasional’s direction as leadership confusion and instability

PETALING JAYA: The appointment of PAS to lead Perikatan Nasional (PN) as the coalition’s new chairman has drawn sharp criticism from opposition lawmakers within the Pakatan Harapan-led government, who argue the leadership change signals fragility rather than renewed strength within the bloc.

In a statement, today, Amanah vice president Mahfuz Omar said the timing of the transition speaks volumes about PN’s current trajectory.

He noted that when PN was at its most organised and politically stable, leadership of the coalition naturally rested with Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

It was only after Bersatu began experiencing internal turbulence and the coalition’s foundations started to shift that the chairmanship changed hands — this time to PAS, represented by its nominee Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar.

“Leadership born when an organisation is strong is a mandate. Leadership that emerges when an organisation is fractured is inheriting damage,” Mahfuz said.

He likened the situation to a football team trailing badly on the scoreboard. When a side is winning, everyone wants the captain’s armband. But when the score is against you, whoever takes it is not inheriting a victory — they are inheriting a problem.

Mahfuz argued that PN is not in an expansionary phase but one of turbulence. Bersatu, he said, is grappling with internal divisions, and the coalition’s overall structure has lost its former cohesion.

In such conditions, a change at the top does not automatically translate into stability.

He also raised questions about PAS’s own track record in managing internal crises, pointing to the loss of the Perlis state government — a seat PN had won at the ballot box — as a cautionary tale.

According to Mahfuz, that loss was not the result of voter rejection but of the party’s failure to manage internal disagreements.

“If PAS could not hold together a small state like Perlis, how credible is the aspiration to save PN as a whole?” he asked.

He concluded that the number of parliamentary seats a coalition holds is not the true measure of political strength, which he argued is better gauged by internal stability, organisational discipline, and governing capacity.

Pulai MP Suhaizan Kaiat, in a separate statement, raised structural concerns about PN’s leadership hierarchy, questioning whether the coalition can credibly present itself as an alternative government when its command structure remains unclear to the public.

As it stands, Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin retains the position of Parliamentary Opposition Leader, while Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar has been appointed PN chairman from within PAS.

Simultaneously, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin continues as Bersatu president and remains widely perceived as the coalition’s dominant figure.

Suhaizan argued this arrangement raises an obvious but unanswered question: who actually sets PN’s direction? Is it the Parliamentary Opposition Leader? The newly appointed chairman? Or does real decision-making authority still reside with Bersatu’s leadership?

He also questioned the role of PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang in shaping PN’s agenda, noting that if key decisions are being made outside the coalition’s formal structure, the public deserves to know where power actually lies.

On policy, Suhaizan said PN has been more effective at criticising the government than presenting alternatives. While PN leaders have routinely challenged the government’s handling of cost-of-living pressures, he said no comprehensive economic policy framework has been put forward in its place.

“Malaysia needs an opposition that is serious about the economy, not one that is preoccupied with internal power struggles,” he said.

 The Sun Malaysia