Both Rafizi and Nik Nazmi resigned from their Cabinet positions last year after their defeat in internal party elections within PKR.
Nik Nazmi said Bersama was born out of what he sees as PKR’s drift from its reformist roots.
He believes that his former party has shifted its focus away from its foundational reformist cause, and became increasingly centred on Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim securing his next term.
Anwar was sworn in as Malaysia’s 10th prime minister on Nov 24, 2022, after the 15th general election failed to produce a clear winner and resulted in a hung parliament for the first time in Malaysia’s history.
That led to the uneasy alliance between PH and BN. Also in the alliance are Borneo-based blocs.
Nik Nazmi acknowledged that forming the 2022 unity government was a necessary compromise to secure a parliamentary majority following a hung parliament. But he argued that PH and BN should have maintained their independence to compete separately in the various state or by-elections that followed, rather than work together.
“As a result, the thinking to reform (PH’s electoral agenda) becomes blinkered because it is all about how I get re-elected as opposed to how do I push through meaningful reforms,” said Nik Nazmi.
He also raised concerns regarding systemic issues, including alleged political influence in judicial appointments, the influence of “corporate mafia” networks, and the need for independent anti-corruption investigations.
For now, Nik Nazmi admitted that Johor and Negeri Sembilan state polls on Jul 11 and Aug 1 respectively would be testing grounds for the party and that the party’s initial benchmark is to avoid losing their deposits.
In Malaysia, candidates lose their RM10,000 (US$2,400) deposit for parliament seats or RM5,000 deposit for state seats if they fail to capture at least 12.5 per cent of the votes cast.
Looking ahead to GE16, Nik Nazmi said the party is aiming to win a ‘”sizable number of seats”, not with the goal of forming the government, but to establish a base it could grow on, adding that the party is looking to contest mainly in multi-racial seats.
He said that the party intends to contest the elections independently and ruled out joining the government in the event they won seats, even if there were a hung parliament.
He noted that in such a scenario, the party’s “worst-case” strategy would be to offer a confidence and supply agreement, provided the government commits to major reforms, such as ensuring equal constituency allocations for all parliamentarians.
GE16 must be called by February 2028.
“I think we can have a presence in GE16. The hope is that then we can be truly sizable on our own in GE17 because by that time we can deploy our candidates early,” he said
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