Tension is Rising in PPBM
The media exposure of PPBM was on an increasing trend in early May 2020.
Its exposure started to increase as Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad filed a proposal for motion of no-confidence against Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
On May 7, Dewan Rakyat speaker Tan Sri Mohamad Ariff revealed that he had accepted the proposal made by Mahathir, hence the motion would be conducted when the parliament session resumes on May 18.
The two top leaders in the party become the most mentioned persons as the conflict between them was the focus of the media.
On the other hand, its deputy president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir place at the third position. He previously advised Muhyiddin to steer PPBM back to Pakatan Harapan for the sake of its survivability.
In addition, he lost his Menteri Besar of Kedah position amidst conflict between the former and current Prime Minister of Malaysia.
On May 12, the assemblymen of Lunas and Sidam state constituency decided to quit PKR in order to support Muhyiddin and the Perikatan Nasional government, hence the collapse of the state government.
After the 2020 Malaysian political crisis, Pakatan Harapan assemblymen in Kedah maintains their alliance to sustain the state government.
Currently, there are six PPBM assemblymen in the state and they are from Mahathir’s bloc. Ironically, after causing the PPBM-led state government to collapse, the two former PKR assemblymen are now considering joining PPBM.
The split in the party caused it to have two directions, one supports the Perikatan Nasional government and the other supports the previous Pakatan Harapan government.
On an interesting note, the alternative news portals produced much more articles on PPBM compared to the mainstream media.
Thus, the alternative media was seen to be controlling the media narrative of PPBM through their high number of articles regarding the party.
The increasing trend of PPBM in the media was mostly contributed by the alternative media like Free Malaysia Today, Malaysia Chronicle and Malaysia Today.
Overall, PPBM support has torn into two, which would make it difficult to come to a consensus decision. Its information chief, Mohd Radzi Jidin had also denied Mahathir as the party chairman.
Therefore, a party leadership election would be crucial to resolve the internal conflict. However, the election has been postponed due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The result of the no-confidence motion in the parliament on May 18 would leave one side of the party unhappy. Due to the tension and inability to an agreement, would it lead to a mass sacking or maybe the formation of a splinter party?