PETALING JAYA: Pejuang deputy president Datuk Marzuki Yahya says the party's exit from Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) was not discussed by its top leadership.
According to a report by a local Malay language daily, Marzuki said party president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir only took the views of Pejuang's delegates into consideration when they convened for its general assembly on Saturday (Jan 14), before reaching a decision.
Marzuki chided Mukhriz for such actions, saying that it reflected his weakness as a leader and urged a clear party direction to prevent another embarrassing outing at the polls.
"I accept any decision by him. It's just that Mukhriz must provide a proper explanation as to why Pejuang left GTA.
"I am also not really in favour of proposals for Pejuang to link up with other parties. This shows that we have strayed from our original purpose," he said.
Citing the possibility of working with Pakatan Harapan (PH) as an example, he said that such a move would be detrimental to the Malays in the future due to DAP's role as one of the main components in the coalition.
Marzuki, however, stressed that the matter was not about race, but more about ideology.
"As a party we have our very own purpose, we should not talk about other options. What we should do is strengthen Pejuang and GTA to continue our struggle for the Malays," he said.
On Saturday (Jan 14), Mukhriz announced Pejuang's withdrawal from GTA to focus on strengthening the party, after taking into account the views of delegates at the party's general assembly and its poor performance in GE15.
He said Pejuang would remain open to negotiating with other political coalitions in facing the upcoming six state elections.