Pejuang eyeing 50-60 parliamentary seats for GE15: Marzuki

 

Pejuang may only be five months old. But the party is not young at heart.

Armed with several big names including two-time prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the political outfit aims to bring new colour into the country's political landscape, especially as the general election is expected soon.

According to Pejuang pro-tem deputy president Marzuki Yahya, the party is eyeing a number of parliamentary seats that it feels it has a good chance of winning in the 15th general election.

"We have been looking at, or have flagged, areas which we feel are compatible with our struggle (political ideology)...

"It has not been conclusively decided yet how many seats we are going to contest in the next election, but from what we see, the range is between 50 and 60 seats," he told Malaysiakini in an interview last week.

Pejuang's attempt to be officially recognised as a party was stonewalled by the Registrar of Societies' (ROS) decision on Jan 6.

Under the law, a political party must be formally registered with the ROS, which is a body under the purview of the Home Ministry.

With the registration issue still up in the air, Malaysiakini asked Marzuki if Pejuang is considering contesting under another party's banner.

While saying that they have several plans in mind, the politician claimed that at this juncture, they have yet to make a decision on the matter. There have been talks about Pejuang using Amanah's logo.

Pejuang is also enjoying its position today as a third bloc in Parliament, he added, pointing to the non-aligned group on the opposition side of the Dewan Rakyat.

"We are an independent bloc, together with our friends from Warisan and several others from Sarawak. So, this is a group that can be the check and balance to the current situation."

It is believed that Marzuki was referring to the power play in the country, which has seen a variety of new political alignments among friends and foes in attempts to grab federal power.

Marzuki said that while it does not recognise the current administration under Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin as a legitimate government, Pejuang also wants to be careful in choosing its partners in the effort to form a new administration.

"We want to be sure that groups which want to be with us are those who really uphold the principles of our struggle, and not only prioritise any individuals or parties to become a prime minister.

"Because the problem we have today is the biggest ever, which is to fight corruption," he said.

Gearing for GE15

In preparing for the election, Pejuang has conceded that it may be short of time to spread its wings to every nook and cranny of the country. Marzuki said their plan, for now, is to focus on state and branch party levels.

"We may not have divisions (for now). Pejuang only has branches and state-level administration. 

"We want to focus on the general election, so the state committee would play a big role to provide situation reports, assess which parliamentary constituencies are suitable to contest, and identify candidates..."

The party has also started doing some ground exercises in facing elections. However, this activity had to be stopped temporarily due to the movement control order.

Marzuki also stressed that Pejuang's focus at this juncture was more on the Covid-19 pandemic.

As Pejuang has yet to be a formally registered entity, party sponsors have set up an NGO as a vehicle for its community work. The organisation is called the Pertubuhan Gerak Khidmat Rakyat Malaysia, or Khidmat.

"Together with our friends who support Pejuang, we have started moving around to help those affected by the pandemic, including those who lost their income and jobs. These are among the social work that Khidmat is doing.

"A big part of this initiative is done by giving consultation to businesspersons who need assistance, especially using ideas that came from Tun (Mahathir) and other Pejuang leaders. Many of these businesses have been badly damaged by the pandemic," said Marzuki.

"Khidmat also serves as a marketing platform for small businesses, or entrepreneurs, who have limited market reach." - Mkini