In a statement jointly issued by four leaders from the northern state, they said the logo was used by Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidates in 193 parliamentary and 453 state seats in the 14th general election.

“This led to PH forming the government after toppling Barisan Nasional,” said the statement issued by PKR’s Perlis chief Amran Kamarudin, his deputy Noor Amin Ahmad, secretary Manivanan Karupiah and youth chief Amaar Abd Jalil.

They also argued that the PKR logo was an established “brand” among Malaysians that was introduced in 1999 after its president Anwar Ibrahim was incarcerated.

The motto “Keadilan Untuk Semua” or “Justice for All” resonated with voters from various race and religious backgrounds, they said.

“The state PKR leadership, along with the youth and women’s wing, have unanimously agreed for the PKR logo to be used in the next general election to woo support as it did in the 14th general election.”

Last week, Federal Territories PKR defended the use of its party logo for the upcoming polls on similar grounds, which led to a rebuke by DAP Youth chief Howard Lee, who told the division to abide by the PH presidential council’s decision.

Earlier this month, Anwar Ibrahim and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng seemed to be at odds on the question of PH component parties in Sabah and Sarawak using their own logos instead of the coalition’s.

While Lim said PH parties in Sabah and Sarawak were not required to use the official coalition logo in the next general election (GE15), Anwar said a common stand was necessary so as not to confuse the voters.

In the run-up to the last nationwide polls, then Bersatu chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad said PH candidates would contest under the PKR banner and logo because the coalition had been barred from using the PH logo.