KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 — Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) is expected to field its members for only 40 parliamentary seats in the 15th general election (GE15), as the party is still new and small and unable to win on its own to form a government, its chairman has said.
According to newspaper Sinar Harian, Pejuang chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said that the remaining 80 parliamentary seats out of the 120-seat target by the party may be contested by Pejuang’s allies.
For these 80 Malay-majority seats, Dr Mahathir said those from Barisan Pejuang — non-governmental organisations and minor political parties that are cooperating with Pejuang — would be able to use Pejuang’s flag and symbol to contest GE15, despite not being party members.
Dr Mahathir suggested that this would be similar to the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition’s then component parties Parti Amanah Negara, DAP and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia also contesting the 14th general election using PKR’s flag and symbol, noting that such candidates still won despite not being PKR members.
“For those dissatisfied with the current government, they can be involved in the election process and may become members of the administration formed with Pejuang in the future.
“Maybe not in the form of a government by Pejuang and other parties, but together with an NGO front, especially the Malays.
“We believe NGO people, academics and professionals can be together with Pejuang and other small political parties to form an informal front to contest using one symbol and one flag (Pejuang),” he was quoted as saying by Sinar Harian.
Dr Mahathir reportedly confirmed that hundreds of Malay NGOs had met with Pejuang to receive an explanation on forming a common front for GE15 to defeat the ruling parties, and said the Barisan Pejuang leaders were aware of the dangers for Malays if the current government continues to rule.
He noted the non-Malays too want to see a good government that is not corrupt.
Dr Mahathir also said Malaysia’s government had long been dominated by the Malays but said other races had also benefited, claiming that the transfer of power from the British in the past had enabled the Malays to be fair to all races.
“We did not take the properties of others; we gave citizenship to a million people that were not eligible for citizenship then.
“This shows that a Malay-majority led government will be fair to all races,” he was also quoted as saying, and added that this is Pejuang’s stand.
