M formed Pejuang to keep Anwar out of PM post

Malaysiakini:

Umno info chief: Dr M formed Pejuang to keep Anwar out of PM post

SLIM POLLS | The recently launched Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) is a political party formed by ex-premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad to ensure that PKR President Anwar Ibrahim never gets to make prime minister, claimed Umno information chief Shahril Hamdan.

"Pakatan Harapan failed because they failed to make friends with each other.

"Their promises to the people did not come true. Their promises to each other were also not honoured.

"The fighting and powerplay between the blocs led by two individuals who have been fighting for decades were a signal to us. If they can't even make peace with each other, how can they govern the country?" asked Shahril in a talk at Felda Gunung Besaout 2 in Slim, last night.

Although he did not mention names, it is understood that the Umno leader was referring to Mahathir and Anwar.

"Today there is a new party called Pejuang. What are they fighting for? He (Mahathir) has been the prime minister twice. I am not sure what else he is fighting for.

"But he seems to want to fight others to ensure that the other person (Anwar) does not become the prime minister," he said in front of more than 100 attendees.

Mahathir and Anwar, who is Pakatan Harapan leader, are no longer seen as being aligned in regard to the prime ministerial candidate for the opposition bloc.

Mahathir became the fourth prime minister in July 1981 to October 2003, and the seventh prime minister in May 2018 to March 2020.

He refused to set a specific handover date to Anwar despite promising to do so and invited Umno defectors into Bersatu while also courting the support of Umno and PAS members.

Matters came to a head during the country's political crisis in February which led to Muhyiddin Yassin taking over as the prime minister instead.

Anwar and Mahathir, who now need each other to form a majority in the Dewan Rakyat, are now at a standstill over who will be the prime minister if their parties could command a majority.

Muhyiddin appears to have a narrow majority of just two seats at the moment.

After Mahathir was unceremoniously stripped of his membership in Bersatu which he formed, he moved to announce a new party known as Pejuang.

The Slim by-election was held following the death of its incumbent Mohd Khusairi Abdul Talib on 15 July. Voting is set for Aug 29.

BN’s Mohd Zaidi Aziz will face independent candidates, Amir Khusyairi Mohamad Tanusi, who is backed by Pejuang and Harapan, as well as S Santharasekaran.

In GE14, BN won with a majority of 2,183 votes defeating Bersatu candidate contesting on PKR ticket, Mohd Amran Ibrahim and PAS candidate, Muhammad Zulfadli Zainal.