Najib Razak is back home, serving the remainder of his SRC International sentence under house arrest.
His return comes just before Melaka votes, where BN and PN are cooperating despite years of rivalry.
In 2018, BN lost federal power amid the 1MDB scandal. Four years later, PN attracted substantial Malay support as an alternative to BN.
Now the two coalitions are working together.
This raises two questions. What were Malay voters rejecting when they abandoned BN? And can BN and PN remain united when both depend heavily on the same voters?
Many Malay voters rejected BN, not its political ideology
BN’s defeat in 2018 ended six decades of federal rule. Najib’s leadership and the 1MDB scandal contributed to that defeat.
But Malay voters did not simply move to PH. Their support was divided among BN, PAS and PH.
By 2022, PN had become a major beneficiary of BN’s decline. Electoral researchers estimated that it received more than half of Malay votes in Peninsular Malaysia.
PN offered an alternative to UMNO’s leadership while retaining an emphasis on Malay representation and Islam.
Corruption mattered, but so did political identity. Rejecting BN’s leadership did not necessarily mean rejecting its political priorities.
PN is now working with the party it criticised
PN benefited from dissatisfaction with UMNO. Its cooperation with BN raises questions about what distinguishes them.
In Melaka, BN is contesting 23 seats and PN five under their electoral arrangement.
Najib’s house arrest makes that relationship more significant.
Prominent PAS figures, including Abdul Hadi Awang and Nik Mohamad Abduh, have defended Najib’s access to constitutional clemency. Supporting someone’s right to seek a pardon is not the same as endorsing corruption.
But PN’s political identity has also changed.
Under Muhyiddin Yassin, opposition to Najib and UMNO’s corruption controversies helped establish PN as an alternative to BN.
That position has become less clear following the breakdown in relations between PAS and Muhyiddin’s Bersatu.
PAS has since moved closer to UMNO, raising questions about whether PN still represents the same political alternative it offered voters in 2022.
Melaka will test BN and PN’s support after Najib’s house arrest
In the August 2026 Negeri Sembilan election, BN and PN secured 25 of 36 assembly seats, while PH won 11.
Melaka offers another test following Najib’s transfer to house arrest.
Some voters may accept his treatment as legitimate clemency. Others may object to a convicted former prime minister serving his sentence at home.
Neither reaction necessarily determines their vote.
A voter may oppose Najib’s treatment but continue supporting PN because of its political priorities.
Melaka’s results will measure electoral support, but cannot establish whether Najib’s case changed individual voting decisions.
Why Malay voters still hesitate to support PH
BN’s decline did not produce an equivalent rise in Malay support for PH.
PN offered an alternative to UMNO while maintaining its emphasis on Malay representation and Islam.
PH brought together parties with different political constituencies, including DAP. Some Malay voters have reservations about that coalition’s direction.
This helps explain why dissatisfaction with corruption did not automatically translate into support for Anwar Ibrahim’s coalition.
Anwar’s personal approval ratings cannot substitute for electoral evidence.
His challenge is addressing voters’ concerns about PH, not simply winning their personal approval.
Anwar’s compromise helped restore political stability
PH won 82 seats in 2022, short of the 112 needed for a majority. Cooperation with BN and parties in Sabah and Sarawak helped Anwar establish a government after years of instability.
The compromise provided broader parliamentary support and greater continuity.
It allowed the administration to pursue longer-term policies covering industrial development, semiconductor investment, energy transition and fiscal reform.
Political continuity can make such work easier, although it does not guarantee success.
But the arrangement carried a cost.
PH had spent years criticising UMNO over corruption. Governing together made those differences harder to maintain.
Anwar’s compromise therefore involved a tradeoff between parliamentary stability and political principles.
BN and PN may struggle to share power
PH and BN entered government with partly different voter bases, although they also compete for Malay support.
BN and PN compete more directly for many of the same Malay voters.
During elections, cooperation can prevent competing candidates from dividing support. Governing together requires parties to share power.
Who becomes chief minister? Which party controls important portfolios? Whose policies take priority?
Both coalitions must satisfy their supporters while making concessions to each other.
Disagreements over leadership and seat allocations have already complicated their electoral cooperation.
Those tensions could intensify when government positions, budgets and policies are involved.
If either coalition believes it is losing influence, it may face pressure to distance itself from its partner.
Shared political priorities could help them cooperate. But winning together and governing together are different tests.
Corruption is not the only priority for Malay voters
Najib’s house arrest does not prove that Malay voters have stopped caring about corruption.
PN’s rise showed that voters could reject BN’s leadership without abandoning its emphasis on Malay representation and Islam.
Its cooperation with BN now tests whether shared priorities can sustain a partnership between parties competing for the same voters.
Anwar’s compromise helped establish a more stable government. BN and PN must still demonstrate whether their electoral cooperation can produce similar continuity.
The deeper question is how much corruption matters when it conflicts with voters’ political priorities, and whether the parties seeking their support can remain united when those priorities collide.
