PEJUANG will never support Perikatan Nasional (PN) in exchange for the fledging party’s registration, its chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad said.

The former prime minister said he will never cut such a deal and will continue to oppose Bersatu, the party of Home Minister Hamzah Zainuddin, who has blocked Pejuang’s application to be registered with the Registry of Societies (ROS).

“No, no. No negotiation, we will not support them,” he told The Malaysian Insight in an interview at his office at Yayasan Kepimpinan Perdana, Putrajaya.

Hamzah rejected Pejuang’s application for political reasons, and his actions are “a fraud and violation of the law”, Dr Mahathir added.

“It is done to block opponents from contesting in the coming general election.

“We have followed all the conditions set up by ROS. Even if the condition is unreasonable, we have followed it.

“ROS seems to have no objection because we have met all the conditions. But it gave the minister the final say. Under the law, it does not say the minister has to make the final decision

“Hamzah made the decision not to register (Pejuang). So this is a political act. This is not according to the law,” Dr Mahathir, who is Langkawi MP, said.

“I met with Hamzah. He did not give any answer (to register Pejuang). He asked, are you sure you want to form a party?. I said, what’s wrong?

“When I asked (for approval), he (said) later, later later. Until now, there is no answer. We have heard rumours that they will not register an opposition party.

“They hope to win the general election by preventing the opposition from contesting,” said Dr Mahathir.

He said Hamzah’s decision is supported by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who heads Bersatu.

“This is a scam, the government is openly deceiving the people,” Dr Mahathir said.

On plans should Pejuang remain unregistered when the general election is called, Dr Mahathir declined to comment but said he believed his party had a chance at winning.

He cited his experience leading Bersatu while it was part of Pakatan Harapan, to win in GE14 even though the party’s registration was canceled by Najib Razak, the then prime minister.

Recently, Pejuang received a warning from the ROS to stop all party activities as well as the use of its logo.

Party pro-tem secretary-general, Amiruddin Hamzah, said the warning sent in a letter dated May 10 follows repeated attempts to get Pejuang registered. 

The party Dr Mahathir founded last August after being sacked from Bersatu following a parliamentary coup led by Muhyiddin against the PH government, has fulfilled all of RoS’ conditions, and yet has not received any word from Hamzah, the nonagenarian leader said.

It has filed a judicial review to force Hamzah and ROS to decide on the appeal.

The court has set May 31 for a decision on the application.

Besides Pejuang, another party founded after Bersatu split from PH is Muda, by Muar MP and former youth and sports minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, who was among lawmakers ousted from Bersatu along with Dr Mahathir.

Muda is also having difficulty with its registration with the RoS.

Dr Mahathir said Pejuang supported the youth party’s efforts to begin on a clean political slate..

Pejuang is always open to cooperation with other parties to “create friends and reduce enemies”, he said. – May 23, 2021.