KUALA LUMPUR: It is no secret that former Umno and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) leader Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is forming a new political party.
Today, in a rather unconventional manner, the former premier announced the name of his new party, which he previously said would neither be aligned with Perikatan Nasional (PN) nor with Pakatan Harapan (PH).
Called "Pejuang" or fighter in English, Dr Mahathir made this announcement via a poem, which he posted on his blog chedet.cc and social media accounts.
"Parti Baharu - PEJUANG. Parti kami ditubuh kerana kesedaran. Rasuah menghancur bangsa. Rasuah yang hancur orang Melayu. Jika ingin dapat jawatan dan wang.
Pilih parti lain. Jika ingin tebus maruah. Jika ingin kekal hak kita. Pilih parti kami. Pilih PEJUANG," Dr Mahathir posted on Twitter.
In English, Dr Mahathir is saying the party is formed out of a sense of awareness. He remarked that corruption had destroyed the Malays and those who were looking for positions and money should choose a different party.
However, he said those who wanted to reclaim their dignity and wanted to protect their rights, they should opt for "Pejuang".
In the poem, which was written in Bahasa Malaysia, Dr Mahathir took a swipe at his former party Bersatu.
"We formed the party to save us. Our party was however hijacked to save our (political) enemies. Hence, Bersatu.
"It was formed to eliminate kleptocrats. But it has shifted to save the kleptocrat instead.
"For what? For position and money," he said.
Dr Mahathir accused the current leadership of Bersatu as having sidelined the original struggle of the party.
"Their current struggle is built on the principle of 'what can I get'. The easy way. Accept whatever that has been offered," he claimed.
At a press conference last week, Dr Mahathir had said that the basis of the "independent" party was to eliminate corruption and kleptocracy.
"This new party will not ally with any coalition, whether PN or PH.
"We wanted to work with PH but we found some obstructions. We faced some problems with the different parties in PH.
"I don't want to mention (who), but I think you all know," he told a press conference on Aug 7.