Pas didn't sack Bersatu. It just made staying impossible

IN employment law, constructive dismissal occurs when an employer does not formally terminate an employee but makes working conditions so untenable that resignation becomes the only realistic option.

No dismissal letter is issued. No formal expulsion takes place. Yet the outcome is effectively the same.

That metaphor offers a useful lens through which to view the increasingly strained relationship between Pas and Bersatu within Perikatan Nasional (PN).

Pas has not expelled Bersatu from PN. On paper, the coalition remains intact. Yet politics, like workplaces, is often shaped less by formal arrangements than by practical realities.

And the reality is that Pas' decision to pursue electoral cooperation with Barisan Nasional (BN), particularly in Negeri Sembilan, has fundamentally reshaped the political landscape in which Bersatu operates.

For years, Bersatu and Pas were presented as the twin pillars of PN. Bersatu supplied the prime ministerial candidate, the national leadership and much of the coalition's multi-ethnic appeal. Pas contributed its formidable grassroots machinery and loyal voter base.

The arrangement was not always comfortable, but it was functional.

Today, that understanding appears to be unravelling.

Pas' willingness to work with BN — a party it spent decades portraying as a political adversary — represents more than a tactical electoral adjustment. It signals a recalibration of priorities that leaves Bersatu increasingly peripheral to Pas' long-term calculations.

The immediate casualty is trust.

From Bersatu's perspective, the issue is not merely that Pas wants to cooperate with BN. Political alliances shift all the time. The deeper concern is that such a consequential decision was pursued despite obvious implications for PN and without securing consensus among coalition partners.

The message received by Bersatu is difficult to ignore: Pas is prepared to chart its own course, even if it means weakening the coalition framework that brought the parties together.

At the heart of constructive dismissal is a simple principle: one party changes the terms of a relationship so substantially that the other must reconsider whether it can continue.

Bersatu may feel that this is precisely what has happened within PN.

The coalition it joined was conceived as an alternative to both Pakatan Harapan (PH) and BN. It was built on the premise that Pas and Bersatu would work together to challenge the dominant political blocs.

If Pas is now prepared to cooperate with BN in key elections, Bersatu could reasonably ask whether the coalition's original purpose still exists.

This helps explain why Bersatu has chosen to field its own candidates under its own logo in Negeri Sembilan rather than simply acquiesce to the new arrangement.

The move is not merely an electoral strategy. It is a statement of political self-preservation.

The irony is that Pas may not be acting out of hostility towards Bersatu at all. From Pas' perspective, cooperation with BN could be a pragmatic attempt to maximise opposition gains against PH. The party may view the arrangement as an exercise in political realism rather than betrayal.

But intentions matter less than consequences.

In politics, as in workplaces, relationships often deteriorate not because one side formally ends them, but because one side concludes that the relationship no longer serves its interests.

That is the danger confronting PN.

The coalition may continue to exist formally. Leaders may insist that channels of communication remain open. Meetings may still be held and statements still issued under the PN banner.

Yet if one component feels sidelined in decisions that affect its future, the coalition risks becoming a shell of its former self.

The Negeri Sembilan election may therefore be remembered not merely for who won or lost, but for exposing a deeper question about PN's future.

Coalitions survive on trust, shared purpose and mutual benefit. Once those foundations begin to erode, formal membership matters less than political reality.

And the reality today is that Bersatu and Pas increasingly appear to be heading in different directions