Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin reaffirmed his party's commitment to Perikatan Nasional (PN) on June 21, saying Bersatu will remain a component of the coalition despite recent tensions with PAS [1, 2, 3]. "We will remain in Perikatan. We helped build this coalition and have been part of its growth from the beginning," Muhyiddin said [1]. He added that removing a component party from PN requires consensus by the coalition’s Presidential Council and cannot be decided unilaterally, citing the PN constitution [1, 3].
PAS officially ended its political cooperation with Bersatu on June 8 but both parties remain within PN, creating an uneasy alliance ahead of the Johor state election [4, 3]. PAS deputy president Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man stated, "PN is not owned by Bersatu. It belongs to all registered member parties, namely PAS, Gerakan and MIPP. Bersatu should not feel that PN belongs to them alone. PAS ended its political cooperation with Bersatu, not with the other parties in PN" [4].
Bersatu played a central role in forming PN, handling the initial formation, registration, constitution drafting, and logo creation, led by Muhyiddin [5, 4]. BREAKING DOWN the coalition's ownership, PAS rejects the notion that Bersatu has sole control. Muhyiddin described the coalition as a shared home, saying, "Many people asked what colour shirt they should wear tonight. Some said red because it is Bersatu's colour. Others asked why red when we are in Perikatan Nasional. It does not matter. Red is us, blue is our home. We will remain in PN forever" [2].
The coalition held an emergency meeting on June 22 to approve the addition of two new component parties, Parti Pejuang Tanah Air and Parti Cinta Malaysia, the latter renamed Parti Wawasan Negara [6]. However, the newest party was not allocated seats in the upcoming Johor state election [7].
PN leaders completed seat negotiations on June 23 for the 56-seat Johor state legislative assembly election, resolving 34 overlapping seats among component parties [8, 9, 10]. Bersatu will contest the largest number of seats among PN parties [8, 9, 10]. All PN candidates will use the coalition logo, subject to official authorization by PN leadership [4, 8, 9, 11]. The Election Commission’s deputy chairman Azmi Sharom said, "Only one authorisation is valid. We can determine who has the authority to issue the letter," cautioning against rival parties using the same logo in the same constituency without approval [11].
The Johor state assembly was dissolved on June 1, setting the stage for the state election [10]. Early voting is scheduled for July 7, followed by full polling on July 11 [10].
