PEJUANG is looking at establishing a new coalition with political and non-political groups and personalities to stand in the next general election, its deputy president Marzuki Yahya said.

He said the coalition members would share Pejuang’s goals.

“Right now we are still solo. At the same time we are also designing a new platform with parties that are in line with the struggle. Maybe they will be part of our team,” Marzuki said in an interview with The Malaysian Insight.

“(The coalition) cannot just involve political parties alone. There are many groups and personalities who are capable of contributing to reviving the country.”

“We will come up with this coalition for GE15. There are political and non-political groups which have similar aims with Pejuang… these are people who love our nation, religion, and country.”

He explained the coalition would not only focus on political issues but also on other problems faced by the people, including the Malays.

“We will announce this coalition later. We have framed a strategy and reached a stage of agreement. Although Pejuang is alone now, we will face GE15 with our coalition.

“We will be ready for GE15,” said the senator.

He declined to say who would participate in the coalition.

On Saturday, party founder Dr Mahathir said the party was open to working with Malay professionals and civil society groups in facing GE15, adding that it had already met with many groups, including retired teachers and members of the armed forces.

“These groups have supporters; we know they talk about the problems of the Malays and they are also interested in saving the future of the Malays,” he said after opening the Malacca Pejuang retreat in Malacca.

Previously Pejuang had dismissed joining Pakatan Harapan in the pact’s “big tent”. 

Pejuang stood alone in the March Johor elections but lost all 42 state seats it contested. Worse still, all of its candidates lost their deposits.

Marzuki said Pejuang has learnt a lesson from the Johor polls. He said the main reason for the party’s defeat in the state was the low voter turnout.

“We did not get many votes (in Johor) not because there was no support but because people did not go out to vote.

The Johor polls saw a turnout of only 54.92% of 1,426,573 registered voters.

Pejuang received only 18,692  or 1.34%, of the votes.

Barisan Nasional (BN), which won a super majority in the Johor elections, got 599,753, or 43.11%, of the votes.

Beyond Kedah

Marzuki said Pejuang would take a different approach in GE15.

He said Pejuang was not only focused on winning Kedah but a federal majority.

“The purpose of Pejuang is to take over the government. 

“Ours is a national party and we want to take over Putrajaya. We are not focused on one state only.

“In GE15, we will contest the 120 seats as decided by our chairman (Dr Mahathir) but the strategy and framework will be different,” he said.

“We are in the process of empowering the party. Everyone knows that we are now working to set up branches at the grassroots level.”

Pejuang has about 50,000 members and is growing by about 1,000 members each week, Marzuki said.

He said Pejuang would launch awareness campaigns to alert voters of abuse of power, corruption, and malpractices that affected them.

“Malay parties like us have big challenges. The Malays still feel that Umno is the platform for the Malay struggle but the party ignores the issue of kleptocracy, abuse of power, and corruption.

“The prices of goods have doubled and employment opportunities are shrinking.

“We have to make the people aware of these abuses of power and the leakages of government administration that make the people suffer,” said Marzuki.

Pejuang has four elected representatives: Dr Mahathir (Langkawi), Dr Shahruddin Md Salleh (Seri Gading), Mukhriz Mahathir (Jerlun), and Amiruddin Hamzah (Kubang Pasu). – June 5, 2022.