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 be 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 during a talk at Felda Gunung Besout 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," Shahril said to over 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 was the nation's fourth prime minister from July 1981 to October 2003, and the seventh prime minister from May 2018 to March 2020.
He refused to set a specific handover date of the premiership to Anwar despite promising to do so before the previous general election. He had also invited defecting Umno politicians into Bersatu while courting the support of Umno and PAS grassroots.
Matters came to a head during the 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, the party he formed, he moved to announce a new party known as Pejuang.
The Slim by-election is being held following the death of its incumbent Mohd Khusairi Abdul Talib on July 15. 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 former teacher S Santharasekaran.
In GE14, BN won the seat with a majority of 2,183 votes defeating the Bersatu candidate contesting under a PKR ticket, Mohd Amran Ibrahim and PAS candidate, Muhammad Zulfadli Zainal. - Mkini
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