Its president and co-founder, Ezam Mohd Nor, wrote to the coalition yesterday explaining that the party came about through a rebranding of the existing New Generation Party and was awaiting approval from the Registrar of Societies for a change in name.
In the letter addressed to Saifuddin Abdullah, as head of the coalition’s secretariat, and the office of the opposition head in Parliament, Ezam said the decision to join PH was made at the party’s meeting on March 30.
He said the party has a single objective — to liberate Malaysia from the threats and effects of corruption.
“Our presence in the national political arena today with a new name and focused objective arose from the awareness and fact that graft is the most important problem in our country now and the source of all political, social and economic problems in the nation,” he said in the letter.
He said the decision was based on the conviction that all parties in the coalition were committed to battling graft and because many of its leaders had been victims of “anti-reform” measures.
He said the two leaders of PBR — apparently referring to himself and co-founder Khairuddin Abu Hassan — had also been the target of laws like the Internal Security Act, the Official Secrets Act and the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act.
He was confident PBR could help transform the country if it worked with other parties in the coalition on the anti-corruption platform.
PH currently consists of PKR, DAP, Amanah and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM).
Both Ezam and Khairuddin were members of PPBM, which was set up in September last year. However, they left the party at the end of the year.