Johor Pakatan chief says BN has ‘closed the door’ on political cooperation for state polls

Johor Pakatan chief says BN has ‘closed the door’ on political cooperation for state polls



Johor Pakatan Harapan chairman Aminolhuda Hassan took Barisan Nasional’s announcement as ruling out any cooperation for the election. — Picture by Ben Tan

Sunday, 17 May 2026 11:21 AM MYT


JOHOR BAHRU, May 17 — The state’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) considers the prospect of a political alliance with Barisan Nasional (BN) for the next state election to be effectively over, said chairman Aminolhuda Hassan

The Johor PH chief said Johor BN chairman Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi’s yesterday announcement that it would contest all seats in the state independently was essentially “closing the door” on any electoral pact.

“We take this as Johor BN declaring that there will be no cooperation with PH,” he added during a press conference at the 2026 PH Convention, held at the Persada Johor International Convention Centre today.

Aminolhuda, who is also the Johor Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) chief, said that PH took note that Onn Hafiz’s statement had also answered questions on the possibility of a BN-PH electoral pact for the coming polls.

He added that Johor BN’s decision yesterday had also indirectly determined the state’s PH political direction ahead of the convention and the upcoming state election.

“However, the relationship between PH and BN at the federal level remains good, and this can be seen in the working relationship among leaders in the unity government,” he said.

Yesterday, Johor BN confirmed it will contest all 56 seats in the coming state election, effectively ruling out any electoral cooperation with PH, Perikatan Nasional (PN) or even Muda.

Onn Hafiz was reported as saying that the decision was made after taking into account the views of Johor residents as well as the grassroots leadership of Umno and the state BN.

Unlike the federal administration, Johor is not a coalition government and instead has been governed alone by BN since the 2022 state election.

PH is part of the “balancing force”, the term Johor uses for what is effectively the state’s opposition.

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The UMNO leopard has bared her fangs; now let the PKR kucing do likewise, if she dares, wakakaka