DR Mahathir Mohamad said Amir Khusyairi is his newly minted Parti Parti Pejuang Tanah Air, or Pejuang’s, first electoral candidate.

The former prime minister said Amir could not contest under the Pejuang banner as it has yet to be registered.

“Because we have not formalised it, the candidate will be an independent candidate but he is a Pejuang candidate nonetheless,” Dr Mahathir said in a speech today.

Lawyer Amir, 38, is the candidate backed by Dr Mahathir and Pakatan Harapan to contest in the August 29 polls.

Earlier today, Dr Mahathir announced that Pejuang, or “fighter” in Bahasa Malaysia, is the name of his new party.

He launched Pejuang to take on his old party, Bersatu, and its allies in the Perikatan Nasional coalition.

The name and rationale for it was announced in a poem by Dr Mahathir on his chedet.cc blog.

The announcement comes five days after he said he would form a new party.

The Langkawi MP said the new party is not aimed at splintering the Malay vote further, but is meant to give them a cleaner alternative.

“We formed this party (but) we do not want to break the Malays. We want to have a platform for the Malays to fight for what they deserve. This party intends to clean the country from corruption,” Dr Mahathir said.

The former prime minister also called on Bersatu members and the public who are against corruption to join Pejuang.

He said Pejuang does not offer any financial or material gain, only the opportunity to save Malaysia from ruin through corruption.

The 95-year-old also said the country’s current leadership was engaging in money politics for its survival, including by trying to buy over Sabah lawmakers. 

He alleged tens of millions of ringgit has been disbursed to state assemblymen to quit the state’s current ruling party, Warisan.

“I heard 13 people got money. There have been people who got paid up to RM32 million to quit Warisan. Some got RM5 million, I’ve heard this,” Dr Mahathir added.

Earlier today, Barisan Nasional announced Tg Malim Umno acting chief Mohd Zaini Aziz, 43, is its candidate for the by-election.

Perak BN chairman Saarani Mohamad, who is the coalition’s Slim by-election director, introduced Zaini at Felda Residence.

The by-election is being held following the death of incumbent Mohd Khusairi Abdul Talib on July 15.

Nomination is on Saturday.

In the 2018 general election, Khusairi defended the seat with a majority of 2,183 votes, defeating Mohd Amran Ibrahim of Bersatu, who contested under the PKR ticket, and Muhammad Zulfadli Zainal of PAS.

There are 59 seats in the Perak legislative assembly, of which BN holds 25, Bersatu (five) and PAS (three). The opposition DAP has 16, Amanah (five) and PKR (three). Gerakan and an independent hold one seat each. – August 12, 2020.