Pejuang to contest 42 seats in Johor, names Dr Mahathir as ‘face’ of campaign

JOHOR BARU, Feb 11 — Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) said last night that the party will be using Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s image on its campaign posters and materials for the upcoming Johor state election.

Its president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir said Dr Mahathir, as the country’s former prime minister, is well-liked by many Johoreans.

He said he believes that using the image of the 96-year-old Pejuang chairman on posters as part of the party’s campaign would not be breaking any law.

“Tun (Dr Mahathir) will not be contesting in the Johor state election, but I am sure that the Election Commission (EC) will allow his image to be used on posters during the campaign period as he is the party’s leader,” said Mukhriz during the launch of Pejuang’s election machinery in Taman Universiti here last night.

On Pejuang’s mentri besar candidate should it win the state election, Mukhriz said that there was no one person in mind for the time being.

“There is no point in naming the mentri besar candidate if the person can’t win. We don’t want to repeat the mistakes of other parties.

“At present, there are no mentri besar candidates yet. We want to focus on all of our candidates’ victories,” he said.

Mukhriz, who is also the Jerlun MP, said Pejuang would be contesting on its own and would not be part of the Opposition’s big tent.

He said Pejuang will be running in 42 out of 56 state seats in the coming polls.

“I am not convinced with the big tent concept that comes from a political group that has already made a pact with the current government based on the memorandum of understanding (MoU).

“We cannot be seen together with the current government. I have stated before many times, where there are kleptocrats, we will not be there.

“For that reason, it will be better for Pejuang to contest on our own,” said Mukhriz.

Besides Pejuang, Barisan Nasional (BN), Perikatan Nasional (PN), Pakatan Harapan (PH) and the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda), the other political parties that have expressed their intention to contest in the state election is Parti Warisan (Warisan), Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) and Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (Putra).

The EC has set March 12 as polling day for the Johor state election. Nomination day is set for February 26, with early voting on March 8.