KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 29 — Selayang MP William Leong has stood by PKR’s decision to contest in the Johor state elections using its own party logo, saying that doing the opposite would limit PKR’s abilities to deal with problems it learnt of after the recent Melaka polls.

In a statement today, the PKR member responded to those who criticised the party for deciding to not use the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition logo instead, saying that a “uniformity of appearance” cannot be put above the party’s need to try to win the state election.

“I appeal to all parties to remove the stumbling blocks and give PKR the opportunity to give its best shot in the Johor election,” he said.

“Speaking as an ordinary PKR member, I am of the opinion that it is unfair to label the Party’s use of its own logo as breaking away from PH or a sign of disunity.

“Requiring PKR to use the PH logo in the post-GE14 (14th general election) and post-Sheraton Move political environment is moving your pieces like checkers in a chess game.

“You are hobbling the full range of the pieces’ movements for the sake of keeping up the mere appearance of uniformity without dealing with the substantive election issues,” he added.

Leong added that in a post-mortem after the Melaka state elections last November, the party received feedback that some voters thought PKR was not contesting there because they could not find its logo on the ballot sheets.

To note, PKR lost all 11 seats it contested in Melaka.

“It must be realised that not every voter is well-informed, especially in rural areas where there is low social media coverage of political developments,” Leong said.

A premature state election was triggered in Johor last week after caretaker Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Hasni Mohammad from Umno sought the dissolution of the state assembly despite still holding a one-seat majority.

The Election Commission is scheduled to meet on February 9 to decide the nomination and polling dates for Johor.