Pejuang suffers the most unkindest cut of all

MM:

Perikatan rejects Pejuang’s application to join

Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin speaks during the Bersatu annual assembly at Menara PGRM in Kuala Lumpur on March 12, 2023. — Picture by Firdaus Latif

Tuesday, 21 Mar 2023 4:40 PM MYT


KUALA LUMPUR, March 21 — The Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition will not accept Parti Pejuang Tanahair as a member, Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin said today.

The PN secretary-general said the coalition’s supreme council had convened yesterday to discuss the application, among other things.

“The supreme council decided to reject Pejuang’s application to enter Perikatan Nasional,” he said in a statement today.

Hamzah gave no reason for the rejection.

Pejuang was founded in 2020 by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and members of his faction who were sacked from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, another party he also established after leaving Umno over his disagreement with the Malay nationalists at the time.

During the 15th general election, all 125 candidates including Dr Mahathir who contested using Pejuang’s logo were defeated and lost their deposits.

In the aftermath, Dr Mahathir and several loyalists left Pejuang, allegedly over a disagreement with the party’s direction under its president, Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathr, the youngest son of the former prime minister.

Despite rumours he would try to bring Pejuang into Pakatan Harapan, Mukhriz applied for his party to join PN instead, resulting in the rejection today.

Dr Mahathir has gone on to join yet another Malay-based party, Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (Putra).

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The most unkindest cut of all

If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.
You all do know this mantle. I remember
The first time ever Caesar put it on.
'Twas on a summer's evening in his tent,
That day he overcame the Nervii.
Look, in this place ran Cassius' dagger through.
See what a rent the envious Casca made.
Through this, the well-belovèd Brutus stabbed;
And as he plucked his cursèd steel away,
Mark how the blood of Caesar followed it,
As rushing out of doors to be resolved
If Brutus so unkindly knocked or no —
For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel.
Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar loved him!
This was the most unkindest cut of all,
For when the noble Caesar saw him stab,
Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms,
Quite vanquished him. Then burst his mighty heart,
And in his mantle muffling up his face,
Even at the base of Pompey's statue,
Which all the while ran blood, great Caesar fell.

- Julius Caesar Act 3, Scene 2 (William Shakespeare)