THE Pakatan Harapan (PH) presidential council has decided that all parties should use the coalition’s logo in the 15th general election, PH Youth chief Howard Lee said.

PKR will also need time to explain the decision to party members, as some are against it, he added.

“PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, along with the PH leadership, has made it very clear that PH is inclined towards using the coalition’s logo. This position stands,” Lee told The Malaysian Insight.

“The decision has been made, we also have to give PKR time to make necessary arrangements to inform their grassroots and voters,” Lee, the Pasir Pinji assemblyman, said.

He was responding to calls by PKR’s Federal Territory chapter urging for PKR’s logo and party flag to be used by candidates in the upcoming general election, instead of PH.

A similar call was also made by PKR leaders in Pahang recently.

While not all decisions made by the council will be agreed upon and will face resistance, once they are made, members must adhere to them and make them count, Lee said.

“We are of the view that if we are to lead, we must lead with conviction. We must give PKR time,” added Lee, who sits on the PH presidential council by virtue of being coalition Youth chief.

He was appointed to the post earlier this month.

PKR Federal Territory had defended the use of the party logo for the upcoming elections, saying it will lead them to victory as it did for the 14th general election (GE14) in 2018.

At the time, the coalition was not recognised by the Registrar of Societies, but this is not the case now.

Besides the Federal Territory division and Pahang PKR leaders, the party’s Perlis chapter also voiced the same view and gave the same reasons.

The PKR logo was used by PH candidates in 193 parliamentary and 453 state seats in GE14.

The decision to do so was made by then Bersatu chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad because the coalition had been barred by the authorities from using its own logo.

“Anwar contested under the PH logo in Port Dickson. He still won nonetheless,” Lee said.

Among the PH presidential council’s reasons for using the coalition’s logo in the next elections is the need to have one logo as its parties will contest as one entity.

Concerns against using the PH logo include unfamiliarity with it in some areas, where people are more used to the individual party’s logo.

Anwar last said on September 15 that the use of PH’s logo in the election will be discussed further. – October 1, 2021.