October 4, 2024

New Malaysia Times

Blog News Impose Expose

Perikatan Nasional rejects membership bid by Pejuang

Perikatan

Kuala Lumpur, March 21 — Perikatan Nasional (PN) has rejected Pejuang’s application to join the coalition, its secretary-general Hamzah Zainudin said today.

In a statement, Hamzah said the decision was made at a meeting of the PN Supreme Council on March 20, chaired by Muhyiddin Yassin.

The council also decided to maintain the use of the Perikatan Nasional logo at the state elections in Kedah, Selangor, Penang and Negeri Sembilan.

“The PAS logo will be used in Kelantan and Terengganu,” Hamzah added. 

“The Supreme Council has instructed the election machinery in these six states to strengthen preparations and ensure readiness at the highest level.”

Perikatan

Pejuang applied to join Perikatan Nasional as a component party earlier this month, with its president Mukhriz Mahathir saying it was “insufficient” for the party to form electoral pacts with other parties or coalitions to avoid seat clashes.

Mukhriz also said joining PN would prevent a split in Malay votes in the state elections.

At the last general election, Pejuang fielded some 60 candidates under the Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) coalition, which saw all candidates losing their deposits including Mahathir, who failed to retain his Langkawi parliamentary seat.

Pejuang secretary-general Amiruddin Hamzah expressed regret at the decision but said his party would continue to defend the rule of law and carry the mandate of struggle for religion, race and country. 

“With this, Pejuang will continue to mobilise its machinery to prepare for the state elections to come,” he said.

NMT