LANGKAWI: Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) will begin registering some 20,000 people as initial members of the party.
Its chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said this was after Pejuang was officially registered as a political party yesterday (Thursday).
"Before we were officially registered as a political party, there were 20,000 people who had voiced their interest to become members of the party and now we will begin the registration process.
"At the same time, we have identified several candidates who will be appointed as leaders at the divisional and state levels.
"All those interested to become members of Pejuang will be subjected to stringent evaluation process to prevent people with ill intention from joining the party," Dr Mahathir, who is also the Langkawi member of Parliament, told reporters today.
The former prime minister admitted that Pejuang has already identified some people who wanted to join the party with ill intentions including criticising the party's leadership.
"We will vet and reject their application," he said.
Pejuang, he said, will also conduct a tour in states within the Peninsular, following the interest among the people who wanted to become members of the party.
On a related matter, Dr Mahathir reiterated the possibility of Pejuang working together with other political parties to create a third force during the 15th general election.
"We may enter into a cooperation with other parties which embrace and uphold the same aspiration as Pejuang to become the third force in the Parliament," he said.
It was reported last month that Dr Mahathir had said Pejuang would not enter into cooperation with Pakatan Harapan (PH) or the ruling Perikatan Nasional (PN) bloc and remain as a third force in the political landscape.
Dr Mahathir had also said that the party may enter into an understanding for the election with parties that championed the same struggles as Pejuang.
When asked which parties are likely to enter into such arrangement with Pejuang for the next polls, Dr Mahathir had said that the parties would not be from PH or PN but would likely be Parti Warisan Sabah or Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda).