PETALING JAYA: The Pakatan Harapan coalition will focus on consolidation efforts in preparation for the 15th General Election (GE15), including contesting under one logo.The Pakatan presidential council said it had made several important decisions to face the upcoming GE15 during its monthly meeting on Wednesday.
“In the face of GE15, Pakatan will focus on consolidation efforts to strengthen Pakatan itself,” the council wrote on a Facebook post yesterday.
The council also said Pakatan would compete under one logo for GE15.
“Pakatan will compete under one logo, which is the Pakatan logo.
“A new design of the logo will also be considered to give a new image and breath for GE15,” the statement read.
The statement was signed by PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Parti Amanah Negara president Mohamad Sabu, DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke and Upko president Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau.
During the 14th GE, all parties in the coalition contested under the Parti Keadilan Rakyat logo.
Meanwhile, when met by reporters after giving a talk at a seminar in Subang Jaya, Anwar said PKR’s decision to contest with the Pakatan logo in the coming general election was due to lessons learnt in the recent state elections.
The PKR president said party members felt they must contest with their own logo, but this had led to suggestions that there was disunity in Pakatan.
“In the Johor election, PKR contested using its own logo, but this made it look like there was disunity. We were criticised for it.
“It was also pointed out that I was chairman of Pakatan and president of PKR.
“So in the Pakatan presidential council meeting last night, we agreed that it is better to use the same logo in the upcoming general election,” Anwar told reporters after giving a talk at a seminar in Subang Jaya.
He added that the presidential council had also agreed to redesign the Pakatan logo, as the old one might evoke “old memories”.
For Sabah and Sarawak Pakatan parties, Anwar said it would be at their leadership’s discretion whether they chose to use the coalition logo in GE15.
“We leave it to Sabah and Sarawak to decide. They can decide to use their own party’s or Pakatan’s logo.
“It’s up to them. We respect their autonomy,” said Anwar.
During the GE14, Pakatan was not able to contest with its own logo as they were unable to register with the Registrar of Societies.
The coalition eventually contested using the PKR logo.
However, in the Johor election, PKR chose to contest with its own logo while DAP and Amanah used the Pakatan logo.
