KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 — Parti Pejuang Tanah Air said today it has been officially recognised as a political party, as the country is still embroiled in a political tumult triggered by Umno.
Its chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the party has received letters from both Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin and director of the Registrar of Societies (RoS) and will focus their struggle to help the public in the pandemic.
“I want to announce that Pejuang has been registered as a political party. We thank the government for approving this.
“There is no reason for us not to be able to be registered,” he told an online press conference today.
On June 25, Pejuang had been granted a court order by the Kuala Lumpur High Court compelling Hamzah to make a decision concerning its pending application to register itself as a political party within the next 14 days.
Judge Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid, when reading out his judgment via a virtual proceeding, granted three out of four court orders which were sought by Pejuang through judicial review, where among them includes the mandamus order that compels Hamzah to decide within the fortnight.
Pejuang information chief Ulya Husamuddin then added that today is the final day of the court order.
In a related matter, Dr Mahathir also touched on Attorney General Tan Sri Idrus Harun’s comment that prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin status was unchanged after Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced the withdrawal of the party’s support as the PM must have confidence from MPs rather than statement of a political leader.
Dr Mahathir said that during last year’s political crisis, Muhyiddin did not get approval from the majority of MPs in his former party in Bersatu as six of them did not support him.
“An announcement was made that some parties had withdrawn their support for Muhyiddin but we were informed by the AG that the party leader’s announcement that they did not support Muhyiddin did not mean that it would reduce support for Muhyiddin.
“We are grateful for this explanation but we would like to inform you that when Muhyiddin became PM, he also could not get approval from every elected representative, including us,” he said.
Dr Mahathir would later form Pejuang with others from Bersatu who had opposed Muhyiddin.
Earlier today, Idrus said there is no clear indication to prove Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has lost the confidence of the majority of MPs to date, said in the wake of Umno’s immediate withdrawal of support earlier today.
Instead, Idrus said the decision on whether an individual commanded the confidence of the majority of MPs must be determined by the MPs themselves in accordance with Article 43(2)(a) of the Federal Constitution.
Muhyiddin was appointed as prime minister in February 2020 after Umno, PAS, Bersatu, Sarawak Parties and several PKR MPs announced their support.
Dr Mahathir and PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim launched a last moment statutory declaration trying to show that Muhyiddin, in fact, did not have the majority, but failed as the King had already announced his appointment.
