SERI KEMBANGAN, March 27 ― Parti Ikatan Bangsa Malaysia (Ikatan) has claimed that the public will ignore the Save Malaysia movement that seeks to oust Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak from office, despite the tens of thousands of signatures in support of the campaign.

Ikatan president Tan Sri Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir, who is former tourism and information minister and ex-Umno veteran, claimed that “almost two-thirds” of Malaysians, through their parliamentary representatives, want to keep a Barisan Nasional (BN) government, although BN only won a simple majority in Parliament.

“No need to panic, no need to badmouth them, no need to condemn them. They can do (what they want) but the rakyat will ignore them,” Abdul Kadir told Malay Mail Online in a recent interview at his office here.

The leader of the new political party, which has aligned with Islamist opposition party PAS to form a so-called “third force” in politics, also claimed that about 95 per cent of Umno division members still supported Najib.

Abdul Kadir, a former Umno supreme council member, said regardless of the Save Malaysia movement’s goals, it was still up to voters to decide their government at elections.

“Unfortunately, we have chosen the parliamentary system of government and we have also chosen the party system of government.

“But who decides is the rakyat ― the rakyat do it through their state representatives.

So, as far as parliament is concerned, almost two-thirds of the rakyat, through their representatives, want Barisan Nasional to continue running this country, until they (BN) hand over mandate to the rakyat again, when the time comes,” he said.

The Save Malaysia movement led by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is set to have a meeting in Shah Alam this afternoon with invited guests, featuring 19 speakers from BN, the opposition, and civil society.