KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 — Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s grassroots members who are still supporting disputed chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad have posted a monochrome version of the party’s logo on social media, in a symbolic act of protest.
Supporters have turned the party’s red-and-white logo to black-and-white as a way of telling president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin that he has led Bersatu astray, leaders behind the campaign said.
“This black logo is a sign of protest from members who remain united, principled and dignified, so that the party can be restored to its original path,” said Tariq Ismail, a party Supreme Council member.
— Dr Mahathir Mohamad (@chedetofficial) June 17, 2020
Bersatu leaders supportive of Dr Mahathir, including his son and disputed deputy president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, and disputed Youth chief Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman have also joined in, posting the blacked out flag on their social media accounts immediately after organisers launched the campaign last night.
Malay Mail understands the campaign was the brainchild of grassroot members from the party’s Selangor chapter.
The campaign also comes ahead of a court hearing tomorrow, where Dr Mahathir and his faction filed a lawsuit to challenge Bersatu’s termination of their memberships, besides also seeking compensation.
In their lawsuit where they are seeking for 26 court orders, Dr Mahathir and the other affected individuals wanted the court to declare that Bersatu president Muhyiddin is not the acting chairman of the party and that Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin’s appointment as the party’s secretary-general is invalid, and to even have the latter two terminated as party members.
— Syed Saddiq (@SyedSaddiq) June 16, 2020
Dr Mahathir, his son and four others were sacked from the party amid a fractious leadership tussle between factions that wanted to align with Umno and PAS and those supportive of Pakatan Harapan.
Muhyiddin, with the support of most in the supreme council, had authorised the sacking on disciplinary grounds.
The six leaders, all MPs, were accused of breaching party rules by sitting at the Opposition side of the Dewan Rakyat on May 18. Dr Mahathir argued the sacking was meant to quell any challenge to Muhyiddin’s leadership.
The six have since filed a lawsuit to nullify the decision.
On social media, Muhyiddin’s faction responded to the blacked out flag campaign with claims that it received little support.
The mockery sparked a tit-for-tat. Ulya Aqamah Husamuddin, another supreme council member, fired back by saying the campaign has even caught the attention of Umno members.
“Some of them didn’t change their profile picture [to black] but shared the logo on social media,” he said in a Facebook post.
“If Umno supporters start commenting on the campaign, then the message of the campaign has been heard.”
