BN Going Solo & Rafizi’s New Party – A Slap In The Face Of PKR & DAP

BN Going Solo & Rafizi’s New Party – A Slap In The Face Of PKR & DAP



May 17th, 2026 by financetwitter



UMNO Johor has declared war on allies PKR, DAP and Amanah, the three component parties of Pakatan Harapan. The United Malays National Organization (UMNO), which is the backbone of Barisan Nasional, has announced that it will contest all 56 seats in the next Johor election – effectively leaving no space for cooperation or negotiation with Premier Anwar Ibrahim’s coalition.

The decision to contest all 56 seats in next Johor state election is a “clear offer to the people that we are ready to continue to form a stable, strong government and fully serve to the development of the state and the welfare of Johor”, said Johor Chief Minister Onn Hafiz in a Facebook post on Saturday (May 16). This means Barisan Nasional will not cooperate with other political parties or pacts.

While Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Harapan (PH) are governing partners in the multi-coalition Unity Government at the federal government, both are rivals at the state level in Johor and Melaka. Besides UMNO, BN is made up of smaller – and obedient – parties such as the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC).

Essentially, not only UMNO-led Barisan Nasional believes it is strong enough to retain power in the Johor state after winning 40 out of the 56 seats in the 2022 state polls, it is also confident of defeating Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Harapan (PH), as well as the Perikatan Nasional (PN) or the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (MUDA) in the opposition camp.

Johor’s state election is only due by mid-2027, but Johor UMNO leaders and the party machinery have been working – quietly – for an election as early as August or September this year. It’s not a coincidence that UMNO Johor made the announcement to go solo less than a month after UMNO Negeri Sembilan attempted to topple the PH state government in Negeri Sembilan led by Aminuddin, a vice-president of PKR.


Even though the betrayal to seize power in Negeri Sembilan did not fully succeed after the 14 UMNO-BN state lawmakers withdrew their support for Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) Aminuddin Harun, the political maneuvering has started the ball-rolling for a return to BN’s former glory. The latest announcement by Onn Hafiz to go alone is a message that UMNO isn’t interested in sharing power with Anwar’s PH.

If victorious in early state polls in Johor, Negeri Sembilan and Melaka, it would allow BN to rebuild momentum independently of the federal unity government, positioning itself more strongly ahead of the 16th General Election due by early 2028. While Anwar is dragging his feet – indecisive about a concurrent national and state elections – the “untrustworthy partner” UMNO decisively wanted an early polls.

BN has a strong incentive to call early state polls rather than align them with the next general election, as lower turnout in standalone contests tends to favour the incumbent while putting its main rival PH at a disadvantage. In the 2022 Johor state polls, PH won 12 seats, with DAP winning 10 and PKR and Amanah taking one each. Perikatan Nasional won three seats while Muda secured one.

Because BN had secured a two-thirds majority 4 years ago, it has no reason to work with PH. Unlike Pahang or Perak, where BN and PH formed coalition state governments, Johor remains under a BN administration with only loose cooperation involving PH. Crucially, UMNO wants to use Johor as a testing ground to see if BN is capable of winning a national election on its own.

UMNO’s gameplay is to first win strategic states like Johor, Melaka and Negeri Sembilan. From there, they could justify going solo at the federal level and returning to power like the old days. Even if BN decides to play safe by working with PH at national polls to prevent three-corner contests, they could flex muscles and use their big wins in those state elections as bullets to demand the lions’ share of parliamentary seats.

Heck, not only BN could easily blackmail and threaten PH under the weak leadership of PKR president Anwar Ibrahim and DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke Siew Fook to surrender some strategic parliamentary seats to be redistributed among UMNO, MCA and MIC, the power-hungry UMNO could even demand the post of Prime Minister as part of conditions for cooperation.

More importantly, UMNO – arguably the current most united political party – is cocksure both PKR and DAP do not have the balls to retaliate by severing relationship at the federal level due to Anwar’s obsession with premiership. Because there is room for BN and PH to work together again to form the Johor state government, Anwar and his obedient sidekick Anthony Loke would most likely keep silent.

It’s a game of brinkmanship which PKR and DAP are set to lose, if Anwar and Loke’s past cowardice in facing UMNO’s relentless bullying, backstabbing and betraying are any indicator. Even within Anwar’s own party Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR or People’s Justice Party), the party president is seen as a weakling who dares not offend UMNO at state level.

It was only last month (April) when PKR president Anwar Ibrahim – with tail between legs – told Johor PKR to use the “right channels” to hold seat talks for the next state election with its unity government allies, especially UMNO. That clearly sends the wrong message that UMNO could bully the PM’s own party in Johor because Anwar told his boys and girls to bend down to be screwed.

Yes, when Malaysia’s most powerful man is reduced to a fabulous coward, choosing to lecture his own party chapter not to rock the boat and suck up to the bully instead of reprimanding the leadership of UMNO president Zahid Hamidi, it’s a matter of time before even UMNO state leaders started disrespecting the Premier. Mr Anwar deserves every insult and humiliation.





It’s a slap in the face of both PKR and DAP. Worse, the spineless Democratic Action Party, despite possessing 40 parliamentary seats – the biggest party in the unity government – is behaving like it has only 4 seats. Minion Loke is waiting for his political master Anwar for enlightenment, but the indecisive Prime Minister could not make up his mind on the next strategy except “bragging and yapping” every day.

To save face after being humiliated, Johor Pakatan Harapan now expects everyone to believe its claims that it had anticipated Barisan Nasional’s decision to contest all 56 state seats on its own in the upcoming state polls. Left with no option, Johor PH said it will also contest all 56 state seats – a decision seen as damage control rather than strategic planning ahead of the state election.

For the past three years, the top leadership of PKR and DAP has been warned that UMNO cannot be trusted. However, Anwar, a former UMNO deputy president before he was sacked by former PM Mahathir Mohamad in 1998 for sodomy and corruption, thought he was super clever and could control UMNO. Meanwhile, silly DAP chief Loke naively thought UMNO had turned over a new leaf.

In fact, Anthony Loke almost orgasm when he made national headlines by becoming the first DAP leader in history to attend the UMNO annual assembly in 2023. Subsequently, he has attended and made appearances at several UMNO assemblies. The moron thought he was popular within UMNO and was so cocksure that BN and PH would cooperate in the next 16th General Election that he mocked opposition Perikatan Nasional’s jealousy in the strong PH-BN relationship.

The best part was when pro-Anwar bloggers, propagandists, cyber troopers, YouTubers, TikTokers, who have been blindly praising UMNO and were convinced that BN and PH would cooperate come rain or shine, are now shocked, stunned and flabbergasted when news flashed about BN Johor going solo – effectively giving the middle finger to Anwar-led PH.

Perhaps they could cook up another stupid story that both UMNO president Zahid Hamidi and deputy president Mohamad Hasan were not aware of UMNO Johor’s decision to contest all 56 seats, just like how they argued that the UMNO top leadership was kept in the dark over 14 UMNO-BN state lawmakers withdrawal of support for Negeri Sembilan Chief Minister Aminuddin Harun.

Sure, PH could gloat and fantasize about past achievements in capturing the Johor state government for the first time after defeating BN in the 2018 general election. However, there’s a reason why PH won only 12 seats four years later, and lost the state to BN. There’s no more 1MDB or GST issues today like in 2018. Anwar today lacks the pull factor that Mahathir had back then.

Worse, PH supporters are split, with an increasing number of PH voters disappointed and upset with Anwar than with UMNO Johor. Not only are there none Palestinians to vote for PKR, the Chinese community who had previously voted for DAP in droves has little motivation to vote for DAP this round, let alone PKR and Amanah. The ethnic Chinese would most likely stay home.

Adding salt to the wound is the emergence of a new “Third Force” led by former PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli. The former Economy Minister has broken away from the toxic ruling Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), which is struggling with safe seats even for supremo Anwar, after taking over the leadership of the fringe Malaysian United Party – also known as Parti Bersama Malaysia – on Sunday (May 17).

A splinter of the Chinese-majority Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and registered in Penang in 2016, the new multiracial party launched by Rafizi would certainly contest in Johor to both split PH’s votes and to test the water. Mr Rafizi, a vocal critic of Prime Minister and PKR president Anwar Ibrahim’s leadership, could create tremendous trouble for PH as it attracts fence sitters and young voters.