PETALING JAYA: Perikatan Nasional may have to consider cooperating with smaller parties instead of the Pakatan Harapan coalition in the upcoming general election, say analysts.

       Universiti Malaya's Prof Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi said it is unlikely for Pakatan Harapan to work together with Perikatan, given the "betrayal" in the "Sheraton Move" that caused the end to its 22-month administration.

       "PKR and DAP do not want to cooperate with Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) because they have betrayed and toppled Pakatan.

       "Many leaders have also jumped from PKR to Bersatu, and there's a lot of anger as a result," he said.

       Even if Perikatan manages to cooperate with Pakatan, Dr Azman said it won't be a convincing coalition to voters, given the events of the "Sheraton Move".

       "Voters will never forget that they stole the people's mandate in the 2018 general election."

       However, Dr Azman said that Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) is likely to cooperate with Perikatan, citing Pejuang deputy president Datuk Marzuki Yahya, who was quoted by Malaysiakini as saying that Pejuang is keeping its doors open on cooperation.

       Pejuang chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, in a press conference last week, said he rejected Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's proposal to cooperate and he will not support a "backstabber".

       However, on April 6, Marzuki was quoted by the news portal as saying that Pejuang was still open to negotiating with any party, including Bersatu, to take on the next general election.

       Dr Oh Ei Sun, a senior fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, also said Pejuang was likely to be open in talks to cooperate with Perikatan.

       "I think Dr Mahathir came out quite vehemently against such partnerships, although his party was less harsh in response," said Oh.

       "In principle, as we have a fragmented political landscape at the moment, any sort of alliance or combination is possible," Oh added.

       Meanwhile, DAP and Parti Amanah Negara were quoted by news reports on April 3, as saying that they reject any form of cooperation with Perikatan, given Muhyiddin's role in the "Sheraton Move" that ended Pakatan Harapan's 22-month administration.

       PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim confirmed recently that he met Muhyiddin several times, but never discussed political cooperation or support for Muhyiddin to be prime minister again.

       The events of the "Sheraton Move" in February 2020 saw 11 former PKR MPs and Bersatu leaving Pakatan.

       Bersatu and the former PKR MPs formed the Perikatan coalition and the subsequent Federal Government with Barisan.

       Dr Mahathir and several former Bersatu MPs did not join the Perikatan Nasional government and they went on to set up Pejuang.

       Other former Bersatu leaders such as Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman went on to form the youth-based Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda), while Simpang Renggam MP Dr Maszlee Malik went to join PKR.

       On Thursday (April 7), Muhyiddin was given the full mandate by Bersatu to negotiate potential cooperation with other parties.