UMNO in GE15: factionalism and its effects

ABSTRACT The ‘green wave theory’ has haunted the explanation of the rise of the Malay-Muslim coalition – the National Alliance (Perikatan Nasional, PN) – in the 15th Malaysian general election held in November 2022. PN mainly consists of two political parties, the Pan-Malaysia Islamic Party (PAS) and the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (Bersatu), a splinter of the former dominant party – the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). Although PN was not able to form a national government after the election, it has more than doubled the number of seats won by PAS and Bersatu in the last election in 2018. Expressing caution over the general belief that the ‘green wave’ reflected entirely the Malays’ positive support to PN, this article offers another side of the story: PN’s gain was UMNO’s further decline due to factionalism and elite break-up, manifested in disengagement, sabotage and party switching among its estranged leaders.