Perikatan seeks talks with Perlis MB Abu Bakar snookered by two-term Bersatu suspension

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24 — Perikatan Nasional (PN) leadership is aiming to broker a resolution to the political crisis in Perlis, seeking direct talks with Menteri Besar Abu Bakar Hamzah following his two-term suspension from Bersatu.

PN secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan confirmed that he has officially written to Abu Bakar to request an urgent meeting to navigate the fallout from the disciplinary sanction and safeguard the stability of the state administration, NST reported.

“The discussions will focus on resolving ongoing issues, as PAS still supports the state government despite not being part of the state administration,” he told a press conference following the Himpunan dan Munajat Penyatuan Ummah gathering in Kota Bharu last night.

Takiyuddin, who also serves as PAS secretary-general, noted that while Bersatu’s disciplinary board had frozen Abu Bakar’s party rights, the embattled state chief technically remains a Bersatu member.

He noted that this restricts Abu Bakar from seeking refuge outside of Bersatu.

“He cannot join another party, otherwise it would be party-hopping,” he said.

Abu Bakar, who also heads the Kangar Bersatu division, was handed a two-election-term suspension after the party’s disciplinary tribunal found him guilty of constitutional breaches. The punitive action sparked renewed questions over the viability of his leadership in the country’s smallest state.

The crisis comes despite a royal intervention in June, when the Raja of Perlis, Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Putra Jamalullail, decreed that Abu Bakar should be given the necessary space and latitude to administer Perlis until the conclusion of the state legislative assembly’s current mandate.

That royal guidance followed a fractious internal revolt last December, when five Bersatu assemblymen teamed up with three rebel PAS lawmakers to withdraw confidence from then-menteri besar Mohd Shukri Ramli of PAS.

The resulting reshuffle saw Bersatu wrest the menteri besar post for Abu Bakar, prompting an aggrieved PAS leadership to pull out of the state executive council entirely and leave the administration operating without formal PAS representation in government.