KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26 — Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (Putra) will not contest the Tanjung Piai by-election as it is focusing on its preparations for the 15th general election (GE15), said Datuk Ibrahim Ali.
He said the party’s supreme council and political bureau discussed the matter this week and concluded Putra was not ready despite purported demands for its entry from Malay voters in Tanjung Piai.
“The party was divided about this, but in the end, we made that decision.
“That is Putra’s stand and it proves that Putra is not a greedy party that just wants to put anyone as a candidate and MP in Dewan Rakyat,” he told a press conference at the party’s headquarters here today.
Ibrahim, who held the Pasir Mas parliamentary seat for three parties in 1986, 1990 and 2008, said Putra was actively registering divisions and branches nationwide, and liaising with the Registrar of Societies (RoS) to ensure it is ready for the next general election.
“GE15 is very important for the Bumiputera as we think that there will be no dominant party. The most that any one party can achieve is 40 or 30 seats.
“If Putra were to get about two to three seats from each state, we might easily have 20 seats, which puts us in the position of being able to dictate the government as there may be a hung Parliament,” he said.
At Putra’s launch on September 28, Ibrahim had said the party would enter the Tanjung Piai by-election should the Opposition and Pakatan Harapan both field non-Malay candidates.
Nomination Day for Tanjung Piai is slated for November 2 and polling will be on November 16.
According to Ibrahim, the RoS has approved 98 Putra divisions and the party has 112 more that are awaiting approval.
He said the target was for 191 divisions nationwide except Sarawak.
The party previously said it plans to target Malay-majority seats.
