SHAH ALAM - Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir reveals the reason behind Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's resignation as the party's chairman in December last year.
Mahathir’s actions, he said, were caused by the difference in stances between him and the former prime minister regarding cooperation with Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) after the 15th General Election (GE15).
"GE15 witnessed Pejuang and GTA losing their deposit and all seats contested. The message I received from our members suggested for us to reconsider our relationship with GTA.
"Nevertheless, I recommended the solution to be discussed in the party’s highest body that was the General Assembly we held today (Saturday).
"However, Dr M who held the GTA chairman position urged for Pejuang to continue be a part of GTA.
"The differences in stances had him resigning from his position as Pejuang chairman,” he said.
He said this when giving the keynote speech while officiating the second Pejuang General Assembly aired live on the party’s official Facebook on Saturday.
Mukhriz said Pejuang now had five options to face the state election this year and among them was to continue becoming GTA’s component party and cooperate with Pakatan Harapan (PH) or Perikatan Nasional (PN).
The other two options were to fly solo or not contest to focus on strengthening the party to face GE16.
He commented regarding the party competing on its own in the state election and said he believed that Pejuang had the opportunity to compete if the party reassessed the total number of seats it wanted to win.
Mukhriz said they must measure it according to their own capabilities and take lessons from the decision in the Johor state election and GE15.
"I believe if we focus only on contesting a few seats in certain states, there may be a chance for us to win. The only thing is we can’t offer ourselves to form a new government in the state.
"Maybe our narrative should be to become the opposition that is loud in defending the rights of the people when we debate with the government representatives chosen,” he said.
Mukhriz in the speech, brought forward the motion to show respect to Dr Mahathir as an individual who established and led Pejuang.