After their stinging defeat in GE14, a Barisan Nasional (BN) politician is wondering if it's worth keeping the coalition together.

On June 12, UMNO (United Malays National Organisation) member Nazri Abdul Aziz said that perhaps UMNO should go it alone, and leave the rest of the BN component parties behind.

"I think we (UMNO) want to be alone in the Peninsular. Gerakan is finished and if they want BN they can take it. Being in BN with Gerakan and being totally rejected by the rakyat (people) is a huge burden."

Nazri, who is a member of UMNO's Supreme Council, suggested that BN's time was over.

"Parties like MIC, MCA, and Gerakan have been defeated so badly and it would be impossible for them to rise again in such a short time. If they can’t rise again then how is BN supposed to function? We need to accept the fact that BN is gone."

Heavy defeat

The BN coalition is composed of multiple component parties, including but not limited to UMNO, MCA (Malaysian Chinese Association), MIC (Malaysian Indian Congress) and Gerakan (Malaysian People's Movement Party).

However, during the recent general election, the MCA, MIC and Gerakan suffered heavy losses.

The MCA only managed to win one seat in Parliament. MCA's President Liow Tiong Lai said that he would not stand for re-election as the party's President.

MIC lost two of its four Parliament seats, including that of its own President S. Subramaniam, who said that he might quit politics altogether and go back to medicine.

And Gerakan ceased to wield any influence at all, losing both of its seats in Parliament.

In another blow to the BN on June 12, four parties in the state of Sarawak formally left the Sarawak Barisan Nasional, and formed their own coalition.

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UMNO's prospects

But can UMNO survive even if it does go it alone?

After the dust of GE14 settled, there were 79 BN members of Parliament, but only 54 of them were from UMNO.

That's less than a quarter of the total 222 seats in Parliament.

UMNO might face difficulties winning a majority and forming a government in subsequent elections if it does go solo.

One option for UMNO is to change tack by joining together with the Islamist party, PAS.

PAS did relatively well in the election, winning 18 seats in Parliament and forming the state governments of Terengganu and Kelantan.

New ally?

PAS has been a member of an informal "opposition coalition" in the past, together with the PKR (People's Justice Party) and DAP (Democratic Action Party).

Today, the PKR and the DAP are in power as part of the Pakatan Harapan coalition government. But PAS split with the other two parties in June 2015.

They might welcome the chance to ally with UMNO. Another UMNO Supreme Council member, Tajuddin Abdul Rahman, suggested that the two parties form a political bloc.

However, UMNO's Youth Chief Khairy Jamaluddin opposed the idea. The party is holding internal elections later in June 2018, and both Tajuddin and Khairy are expected to contest for a Vice-President post.

Perhaps the party will have a clearer idea of its next steps after that. For now, they have a long road ahead.

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