Mahathir will defend Langkawi seat in Malaysia GE

This article is more than 12 months old

Oct 11, 2022 02:32 pm

PUTRAJAYA - Former Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad will defend his Langkawi Parliament seat in the coming 15th General Election.

The 97-year-old, who was instrumental in unseating the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) in the historic 2018 election, said his party, Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang), had yet to pick a candidate as premier.

"We won't decide who will be the prime minister candidate, as it is relevant only if we win," Tun Dr Mahathir said at a Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) press conference at the Perdana Leadership Foundation on Tuesday.

He said that GTA, a Malay-Muslim movement set up in August this year, had agreed to contest in 120 of the 222 parliamentary seats up for the grabs in the polls.

"All candidates will contest under the Pejuang logo and banner in the coming polls.

"The exception will be in Kelantan, where GTA candidates will contest using the Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (Putra) logo," he added.

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He said that GTA agreed to rely on the Pejuang logo and banner, as the movement has yet to be registered as a political party.

Even if GTA was registered now, he said that there would be insufficient time to prepare the necessary materials.

GTA consists of four political parties, namely Pejuang, Putra, the National Indian Muslim Alliance Party (Iman) and Parti Barisan Jemaah Islamiah Se-Malaysia (Berjasa).

It also includes non-governmental organisations (NGOs), academicians and individuals.

Dr Mahathir said that individuals from NGOs and others under GTA will also contest under the Pejuang logo and banner. He added that GTA will also field candidates in Sabah.

Asked if GTA was willing to work with Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) in the polls, Dr Mahathir said this would be considered. He led Bersatu for about four years before leaving to start Pejuang.

He declined to confirm if GTA and Bersatu had met.

The former Pakatan Harapan administration under Dr Mahathir collapsed when Bersatu pulled out of the coalition in February 2020. - THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK, BLOOMBERG