The Malaysian United Indigenous Party (Malay: Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia; abbrev: BERSATU or PPBM) is a nationalist political party in Malaysia.[1] The party was preceded by the United Indigenous Association of Malaysia (Malay: Persatuan Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia) and founded by members of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) rebel group Gabungan Ketua Cawangan Malaysia. It is a major component of the Perikatan Nasional coalition.
Full membership in the party is limited to only Bumiputeras (indigenous communities of Malaysia). Non-Bumiputeras can join the party as associate members, who are not eligible to vote and contest party elections.[9]
History
Formation
On 10 August 2016, former UMNO deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin submitted an application for the party's registration with himself as president, Mukhriz Mahathir as vice-president, and Mahathir Mohamad as chairman. BERSATU's formation was undertaken by former members of UMNO in opposition to the then-prime minister Najib Razak.[10]
On 12 November 2016, Mahathir announced that the party would join the Pakatan Harapan opposition coalition, which then consisted of Parti Keadilan Rakyat, the Democratic Action Party, and Parti Amanah Negara, pending the decision of the Malaysian Islamic Party, another opposition party. He expressed the need for a united opposition in order to defeat the incumbent Barisan Nasional government.[11][12] It officially joined the coalition on 13 December.[13]
Forming a Pakatan Harapan government
The 2018 general election saw the Pakatan Harapan coalition and its allies win 121 seats in the country's lower house of parliament, enough to form a majority government. BERSATU itself won 13 seats and garnered 5.9% of the vote. As the coalition's prime ministerial candidate,[14] Mahathir was sworn in as Malaysia's fourth prime minister at 93 years of age, becoming the world's oldest elected head of government.[15] Mahathir had previously held the position of prime minister from 1981 to 2003, during he led the Barisan Nasional coalition as leader of the United Malays National Organisation.[16]
In the aftermath of the election which ended Barisan Nasiona's 60-year-long rule over the country, members of parliament, state assemblymen, and senators defected from UMNO to BERSATU. They included high-ranking UMNO politicians such as Mustapa Mohamed and Hamzah Zainudin, with the latter claiming 36 Barisan Nasional members of parliament had signed a pledge supporting Mahathir.[17] The party also benefitted from an exodus of members from UMNO's Sabah chapter, from which it gained In total, the party gained an additional 12 members of parliament and two senators from May 2018 to February 2019.[18][19][20]
Collapse of Pakatan and formation of Perikatan Nasional
The government of Pakatan Harapan collapsed in February 2020 when Mahathir tendered his resignation as prime minister and the party announced its withdrawal from the coalition. This occurred against a backdrop of increasing tension within the coalition and speculation that Mahathir intended to form a new coalition that would exclude his designated successor, Anwar Ibrahim. With the loss of 26 members of parliament from BERSATU as well as an additional eleven members from Anwar's Parti Keadilan Rakyat, the coalition lost its majority in parliament.[21][22] The eleven rebel members of parliament, led by Azmin Ali, later joined the party.[23]
Mahathir had also resigned as party chairman, a decision which the party's supreme council rejected unanimously in an emergency meeting.[24][25] Pakatan Harapan member parties also announced their support for Mahathir to remain as prime minister despite his resignation.
The formation of a new coalition government began when BERSATU announced that they would nominate party president Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister,[26] although a supreme council member claimed he had neither been invited to discuss or informed about the decision.[27] This was followed by declarations of support from the United Malay National Organisation, the Malaysian Islamic Party, Malaysian Chinese Association, and Malaysian Indian Congress.[28] The nomination faced pushback from youth leader Syed Saddiq, who objected to working with UMNO, suggesting a split within the party over Muhyiddin's candidacy.[29] This was further reinforced when Mahathir announced that he had the necessary support from Pakatan Harapan to return as prime minister and denied having supported Muhyiddin's bid for the position.[30]
In May, Mahathir Mohamad, Mukhriz Mahathir, Syed Saddiq, Maszlee Malik and Amiruddin Hamzah were expelled from the party after opting to sit with the opposition in parliament, citing a provision in the party's constitution that automatically revoked the membership of individuals who joined other parties.[33][34] Mahathir had initially sought to table a motion of no confidence against Muhyiddin during a one-day meeting of parliament, the first since the formation of the new government, but was prevented from doing so after Muhyiddin ordered the speaker to end proceedings immediately after the king's speech.[35]
In June, the party another lost a member of parliament when Shahruddin Md Salleh resigned from his position as Deputy Minister of Works and joined the opposition, referring to his decision to join the government as a "mistake".[36][37] However, independent member of parliament Syed Abu Hussin Hafiz, a former member of UMNO, would join the party a few days later.[38]
The party was embroiled in a scandal when it was revealed in June and July 2021 that two separate events involving party members had occurred sometime during the COVID-19 pandemicin Malaysia, with participants reportedly contravening the Malaysian movement control order, a lockdown imposed by the Malaysian government in response to the pandemic.[39][40][41]
Loss of majority in parliament
Tension within the Perikatan Nasional coalition government resulted in Muhyiddin's resignation as prime minister in August 2021. United Malay National Organisation president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced that the party would be withdrawing its support for the government in July 2021, but faced opposition from Ismail Sabri, the then-deputy prime minister, who led a faction within the party that continued to support Muhyiddin.[42] The split led to uncertainty as to whether Muhyiddin's government continued to possess a majority in parliament,[43] with Muhyiddin ultimately resigning on 16 August.[44] He was succeeded by Ismail Sabri on 21 August,[45] with BERSATU members being appointed in his cabinet.
^Nur Hasliza Mohd Salleh (22 October 2022). "Bersatu akan guna logo PAS di Kelantan" [PPBM will use the PAS logo in Kelantan] (in Malay). MalaysiaNow. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
^Khairil Anwar Mohd Amin (19 July 2020). "Bersatu pecat Ahli Parlimen Sri Gading" [Bersatu sacked Sri Gading Member of Parliament]. Sinar Harian (in Malay). Retrieved 19 July 2020.
