Pejuang will only contest 40 Parliament seats, while other filled by Barisan Pejuang

KUALA LUMPUR - Despite Pejuang's target to contest 120 parliamentary seats in the 15th General Election(GE15), its chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said they have only identified about 40 suitable candidates and constituencies.

The two-time former premier said the party will not be contesting more than that as it was still new and small thus have less chances to win alone and form a government.

However, Dr Mahathir stated that about 80 parliamentary seats with majority Malay voters that was aimed by the party may be contested by its Barisan Pejuang candidates.

Barisan Pejuang is a coalition comprising of the party's cooperation with various non-governmental organisations (NGO) and small-scale parties.

The 97-year-old Langkawi MP said these group of non-political leaders wanted to see the country be governed well.

He said Barisan Pejuang could use the Pejuang symbol or flag to contest in GE15, even if it was not officially members of the party.

"We saw in GE14 where Amanah, DAP and Bersatu used the symbols and flags of PKR despite not being members of the party but won.

"For people who are unsatisfied with the current government, they could be involved with the electoral process and even be members of the government via Pejuang.

"Maybe not through a Pejuang government or other coalitions but a specific NGO especially for the Malays.

"They are not fighting to become the government, however, without being a part of the government their policies are unlikely to be implemented.

"That is why we believe that people from NGOs, academics and professionals should band together with Pejuang and minor political parties to form an informal front using one symbol or flag (Pejuang)," Dr Mahathir said through an exclusive interview with Sinar Premium at the Al-Bukhary Foundation building on Wednesday.

Dr Mahathir confirmed that Pejuang had a meeting with hundreds of Malay NGOs where they received an explanation by the party on the need to form a cooperation of sorts for GE15 and take down the current government.

He said the Barisan Pejuang leaders were aware of the dangers faced by the Malays if the existing government was left to lead and agreed that their cooperation for the election was very important.

"For non-Malays, they also play a role and want to see what a good, non-corrupt government.

"The Malaysian government has long been dominated by Malays, however, other races received many benefits. The establishment of Malaysia was only felt after we achieved independence by the British.

"The transfer of power from British to the Malays allowed the Malays to do justice to all races.

"We did not take away other people's property, we even gave citizenship to a million people who were not eligible to be citizens at the time.

"This shows the government led by a Malay majority is able to be fair to all races," he said, adding that this was Pejuang's stand.