Johor polls: PKR's Pasir Gudang MP defends party's decision to use own logo

PASIR GUDANG: A PKR MP here has defended the party’s decision to use its own logo instead of the Pakatan Harapan logo in the upcoming state election, saying the logo was one that was close to the hearts of its grassroots leadership.

Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Karim said the party’s decision to use a different logo from its allies under Pakatan was not a sign of a weak coalition or lack of cooperation.

“The logo is a secondary issue... a technical matter that will not in any way affect our cooperation with the other component parties.

“PKR does not like the Pakatan logo as it is the legacy of a failed government under former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. There was a betrayal under Dr Mahathir’s leadership.

“He promised to give (the premiership) to PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and to allow reform but later made a U-turn.

“We must also remember that during the previous general election, we used PKR’s logo (to contest). This is not a small matter for us.

"It is the symbol of our fight and struggles in GE14. It is a symbol that is very close to the hearts of PKR members,” he said.

He said this after attending a Ponggal celebration organised by Persatuan Semangat Ibu Tunggal Johor at Taman Megah Ria here on Saturday (Jan 29).

He added that PKR would continue to give its support to candidates coming from other component parties in the state election.

“For instance, in Pasir Gudang, PKR will not be contesting as the Permas seat was given to Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) while the Johor Jaya seat was given to DAP.

“However, we will still give our support to the candidates under our component parties. That is our focus,” he said, adding that seat allocations for the state election were almost finalised.

On the differing suggestions from Pakatan component parties for its mentri besar candidate, Hassan said that it was not a priority at this juncture.

“For now, that is not the focus but we welcome every component party, including DAP, to give their suggestion for a candidate.

“Anyone can nominate but that is a discussion for later, when we already know the result of the election,” he said.

It was earlier reported that Pakatan was split over the decision for its mentri besar candidate in the Johor polls with Amanah wanting Pulai MP Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub to be mentri besar while PKR wanted Dr Maszlee Malik for the post.