KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 — Parti Pejuang Tanah Air will only last within the lifetime of its chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, said Tan Sri Rais Yatim.

Utusan Malaysia reported the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia supreme council member as saying that Pejuang will "evaporate” once Dr Mahathir is no longer around.

"It is clear his son Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir is unable to continue his legacy, following the failure of his administration in Kedah (as its mentri besar),” he told the Malay daily.

Rais also added that Pejuang would be unable to go up against other existing parties, since it has less than 10 parliamentary seats at present.

"Bersatu has 179 divisions. They have not even reached 10. So Pejuang is very limited, and if unfortunate, the party will die in its crib.

"Pejuang differs from Bersatu in that the latter is expanding and increasingly being accepted positively by the rakyat,” he said.

"This can be seen in Bersatu’s new leadership, as only three or four are established leaders while the rest are fresh faces.

"This means the rakyat hopes for something that is new in terms of performance and appearance.

"Additionally, we will also expand membership to include Chinese and Indians, which means Bersatu will be viewed as not simply a wholly Islamic party, but also demonstrating great potential to educate non-Malay communities to stand together with us,” he said.

Rais also expressed similar sentiments regarding Muar MP Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman’s new youth-centric party, which he claimed the rakyat would find hard to embrace since they are fed up with new parties being established for personal agendas.

"I hope Tun Dr Mahathir and Syed Saddiq will one day come back to Bersatu and strengthen it,” he said.