Former Penang deputy chief minister P. Ramasamy has questioned whether the newly formed Parti Bersama Malaysia, or Bersama, will truly differ from PKR, warning that Malaysians do not want “another version of the failed PKR.”

Ramasamy, who is chairman of Urimai, said Bersama appeared to be a personality-driven political party formed out of dissatisfaction with certain PKR leaders, particularly party president and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

He said former PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli and his ally Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad seemed motivated by frustrations with leaders such as Anwar and R. Ramanan.

According to Ramasamy, Bersama’s criticism of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government has largely focused on Anwar and his close associates, while leaders from the DAP have escaped similar scrutiny.

He pointed out that Rafizi had recently praised DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke as a competent leader, suggesting Bersama did not have major disagreements with the DAP.

However, Ramasamy argued that responsibility for the government’s failure to implement reforms should not rest solely on Anwar, but on the PH coalition as a whole.

“DAP leaders preferred to sit quietly and allow Anwar to take the entire blame for the lack of reforms,” he said.

Ramasamy also suggested Rafizi could be keeping political options open with the DAP should PKR perform poorly in future elections.

He questioned whether Bersama possessed a clear ideological foundation, saying the party currently appeared little different from PKR apart from disputes involving individual leaders.

“If the lack of reforms and the role of certain personalities are the contentious issues for Rafizi and his associates, then one has to critically examine the vision and strategy of the party for the betterment of the country,” he said.

Ramasamy urged Bersama to clearly outline what reforms it intended to pursue and explain specifically where PKR had failed.

He added that meaningful reform should include addressing long-standing inequalities in Malaysia’s political and economic systems.

“Forming a political party is easy, but spelling out in detail the vision and strategy of a party requires out-of-the-box thinking,” he said.

“Surely, Malaysians expect Bersama not to become another version of the failed PKR.”