Ignore Mukhriz, PKR rep tells Anwar after criticism over his leadership as Pakatan head

PETALING JAYA, Feb 28 — PKR’s Hassan Abdul Karim has called on party president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to disregard criticism by Parti Pejuang Tanah Air for allegedly not doing more to unite the Opposition bloc.

Responding to remarks by Pejuang’s president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, Hassan said Anwar and PKR should not respond or retaliate as voters in Johor especially disliked seeing politicians dispute one another.

“Voters in Johor want to hear what politicians will do to help the people who are struggling now.

“Let Mukhriz attack Anwar more aggressively than Barisan Nasional and Perikatan Nasional leaders,” he said in a statement here.

Previously, Mukhriz criticised Anwar for not doing more to unite opposition parties in his position as the Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman and Opposition leader.

He was commenting on the apparent disunity among the Opposition parties, such as PKR’s decision to use its own logo while DAP and Parti Amanah Negara contested as PH.

Mukhriz, the son of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, also went as far as saying Anwar appeared to be acting primarily on behalf of PKR instead of PH or the larger Opposition.

Hassan, who is also Pasir Gudang MP, noted Anwar and PKR should instead focus solely on the people’s needs rather than hit back at criticisms from other politicians.

“That is more meaningful to the voters,” he said.

As recently as January, Anwar had said he planned to rope in all Opposition parties — including Pejuang — to ensure that Barisan Nasional (BN) and Umno would be defeated at the state polls.

But his so-called “big tent” approach has not yet materialised, as evidenced by the severe clashes among the federal Opposition parties for the March 12 state election.

In the same interview, Mukhriz said it was his father that united the disparate factions of the opposition prior to the 2018 General Election (GE14) by deciding that the Pakatan Harapan coalition should run under the PKR logo.

Prior to the 14th General Election in 2018, Dr Mahathir — then the de facto leader of PH — had announced that all its parties would contest using a common logo regardless of the Registrar of Societies’ (RoS) decision on the coalition’s application to be formally registered.

When the PH application had been rejected, DAP, Parti Amanah Negara, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, and PKR all contested under the logo of the last party, and went on to an unlikely victory in the 14th general election.

However, the coalition government collapsed in February 2020 when Dr Mahathir unexpectedly resigned as the PM.