KUALA LUMPUR – Leaders of two parties in Malaysia’s Perikatan Nasional (PN) alliance in Perak were scheduled on Tuesday (Dec 8) to meet the state’s ruler in a bid to resolve a political impasse caused by the ouster of the state’s menteri besar last week.

Perak leaders of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) and Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) were summoned by Sultan Nazrin Azlan Shah following his meeting with Umno leaders on Tuesday morning.

Northern Perak state was governed by the PN parties of Bersatu, Umno and PAS since the collapse nine months ago of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition.

But in a confidence vote last Friday, most of Umno’s state lawmakers joined the opposition PH assemblymen to remove Perak’s menteri besar, Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu.

Mr Faizal garnered only 10 votes in the 59-strong state assembly, with 48 votes against him. One vote was spoilt.

This came about after 24 of the 25 Umno assemblymen voted against him, joining the 24 PH opposition votes.

Umno is the biggest party in the Perak legislature, but a minimum of 30 seats is needed to control the assembly,

It isn’t clear if the other two PN parties, Bersatu (five seats) and PAS (three seats), will agree to work again with Umno to form a new government.

Umno has submitted the name of its senior assemblyman, Datuk Saarani Mohamad, as the next menteri besar.

The opposition PH, with 24 seats, has said it was willing to work with Umno to form a new government.

And Umno leaders have indicated that it too was willing to consider working with PH.

PH in Perak comprises the Democratic Action Party (with 16 seats), Datuk Seri Anwar’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat (three) and Parti Amanah Negara (five).

The remaining two sears in the assembly are held by independent party Gerakan, and an independent legislator.

If the Umno-PH alliance comes about, it would be the first time that Malay nationalist party Umno and its bitter political nemesis, the Chinese-led DAP, have come together.

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But in a turnaround late on Monday evening, Umno’s supreme council, the party’s top decision-making group, said it will continue to work with Bersatu and PAS.

What isn’t clear is whether Bersatu, which felt played out by the ouster of Mr Faizal, and PAS, are willing to team up again with Umno. Hence, their meeting with Sultan Nazrin later on Tuesday.

The three PN parties jointly have 32 seats, enough to form a new Perak state government.

Significantly, Mr Faizal is deputy president of Bersatu, whose president is Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. Hence, Mr Faizal’s ouster has been seen as an Umno play against Tan Sri Muhyiddin’s standing.

Umno has been agitating for months for more senior Cabinet posts in the federal government, which PM Muhyiddin has thwarted. And Umno clashed with Bersatu in Sabah in September over the choice of its new chief minister soon after the state polls. In the end, Bersatu managed to get its way by getting its Sabah leader as chief minister.

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