YOURSAY | ‘It would be disingenuous to claim that Harapan sidelined Pejuang.’

Pejuang man laments Harapan sidelined other opposition parties in deal with govt

Proarte: Look at the tone of Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) founder Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s man Khairuddin Abu Hassan - it is so crude and insulting.

Nobody in the opposition sidelined Warisan, Pejuang or Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda). The reality is they were sidelined by the government, which did not invite them for discussion.

Khairuddin should go crying to PM Ismail Sabri Yaakob and ask why they were “sidelined”. It is possible that the PM might tell Khairuddin that the Warisan-Pejuang-Muda trio is a mosquito party whose support he does not need.

Didn’t Mahathir “sideline” opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim since 1998 as well? Didn’t Mahathir sabotage Anwar’s chance of becoming PM in 2020 by resigning as PM and causing the Pakatan Harapan government to collapse and see his party Bersatu defect into the arms of BN and PAS? They went on to form the new Perikatan Nasional (PN) government.

While in the opposition, haven’t Warisan, Pejuang and Muda been lukewarm at best about supporting Anwar to be PM? In fact, Mahathir has been downright hostile towards Anwar.

Warisan, Pejuang and Muda are under the thumb of Mahathir and their narrow political agenda is to make sure Anwar does not become PM - it is as basic as that. I see them as trojans who are working in the interest of PN.

Harapan Plus should contest in all the seats Warisan, Pejuang and Muda plan to contest in and put them to pasture politically.

Apa Nama: Indeed, Khairuddin should ask Ismail Sabri about this instead. Perhaps your chief Mahathir wanted people to come and invite him with drums and trumpets.

By the way, who is Mahathir? He is nothing but a menace and nuisance to this country. What did he do for this country besides building white elephants and destroying the institutions that we now need to reform?

Your chief had turned this country back two to three decades. You can go and fly kites with your sidelined claim. Pejuang deserves to be sidelined.

NewbieSC: Dear Khairuddin, if your party wanted to be treated as an equal in the opposition, it only makes sense for Pejuang to join the Harapan coalition.

Your founder has been very vocal about not wanting to work with Anwar, so I do not understand your logic.

If you want to be treated with respect, then your party should show its willingness to cooperate without having to be asked all the time. Please make up your mind and stop chastising Harapan for every little move they make.

PKR, DAP and Amanah have been consistent. I am sure they would welcome your party to join the coalition, but you need to get off your high horse first.

Coward: We all know why Pejuang was not invited, there is too much bad blood between your chairperson and Harapan leaders. Besides, who needs a small party with a few MPs, particularly one that wanted more say than its weight can deliver.

Muda can join later. Right now, without registration, it is simply an unofficial movement. There is not much leadership structure to negotiate with, particularly since its only leader is embroiled in trumped-up charges.

As for Warisan, their loyalty appears to be with the same Pejuang’s chairperson, which Harapan leaders cannot accept.

They are also not really in the core Harapan camp. If they want to go on their own, then there is no reason to blame Harapan for not involving them in decisions such as this one.

JazliSalleh: Hello Pejuang, you are part of the reason why Harapan fell. So don’t start your stupid nonsense here.

You supposedly wanted to be the third force. You did not want to be in Harapan but you want to be in the negotiating team. You split Warisan president Shafie Apdal from Harapan. What other destruction are you all planning?

Basically, you and Mahathir are not interested in reform.

Non-Evader: Is Mahathir interested in those reforms? I thought he was not, perhaps except Undi18.

He had two years to implement those and other reforms, particularly in the first year of the Harapan government when he had solid support from everyone. But he was more interested in the third national car project as well as wheeling and dealing.

Iphonezours: Khairuddin, please get your facts right. Mahathir never supported Anwar as PM despite all his promises and eventually resigned even without informing Harapan. Won’t you call this a betrayal of trust?

When Harapan adopted the ‘big tent’ approach and invited all opposition parties to join, Pejuang, Warisan and even Muda resisted for reasons only known to them despite these three parties only having a combined 13 MPs. On the other hand, Upko decided to join, knowing very well the benefits of being part of Harapan.

Moreover, these reforms proposed were actually from the Harapan manifesto, which all parties have been fighting for.

Pejuang is more than welcome to contest in 120 or more parliamentary seats but do remember that in GE14, Pejuang, Warisan, and Muda MPs were elected due to the support of the rakyat who wanted change.

Existential Turd: Pejuang is not part of Harapan. It would be disingenuous if not an outright lie to claim that Harapan sidelined Pejuang. Pejuang should point its finger at the government why it did not also engage them.

Pejuang, like the politicians it is made out of, is opportunistic - wanting to be out of Harapan when it does not suit them and wanting to be part of Harapan when it suits them.

The Wakandan: Khairuddin, are you in the same boat or not? Last we checked, it was not. Harapan consist of PKR, Amanah and DAP. Upko has just joined. Pejuang and Muda are not part of it.

Didn’t Mahathir say that Pejuang was not attached to anybody? It’s just as well. 

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. In the past year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now.

These comments are compiled to reflect the views of Malaysiakini subscribers on matters of public interest. Malaysiakini does not intend to represent these views as fact.