Bersatu denies blocking Pejuang’s admission into PN

PETALING JAYA: Bersatu has denied a news report claiming that it opposed Pejuang’s admission into Perikatan Nasional.

Bersatu information chief Tun Faisal Ismail Aziz said the report claiming that eight PN Supreme Council members objected to the entry of Parti Wawasan Negara and Pejuang into the opposition coalition was “inaccurate, untrue, and misleading”.

“Bersatu wishes to stress that the party supports Pejuang’s admission into PN and only objects to Parti Cinta Malaysia’s (PCM) admission,” he said in a statement.

PCM has been rebranded as Wawasan, following a takeover by former Bersatu deputy president Hamzah Zainudin.

Tun Faisal hoped the news report would be corrected.

Wawasan and Pejuang, which is led by Mukhriz Mahathir, were admitted into PN on Monday.

Tun Faisal said Bersatu’s position in rejecting Wawasan was consistent with a statement issued earlier by the party’s vice-president, Ahmad Faizal Azumu, that admitting Hamzah’s party could trigger internal conflict within PN and that its application process was irregular.

He said the application had been submitted in PCM’s name, but the leadership information provided was under Wawasan’s name, even though the name change and leadership changes had yet to be approved by the Registrar of Societies.

He also cited Faizal as saying Bersatu regretted the actions of PN chairman Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar, who was alleged to have pushed for Wawasan’s admission in haste without considering the implications of the Societies Act 1966 and the need to comply with existing laws.