SUNGAI PETANI: Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) is confident that the involvement of its candidates from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the 15th general election (GE15) can be the winning factor in the coalition's maiden election outing.

GTA protem secretary-general Datuk Marzuki Yahya said the participation of NGOs that form Gagasan Bangsa (GB) will be able to highlight the voices of experts in various fields for the formulation of government policies should GTA win the polls.

He said the NGO representatives contesting for GTA come from various backgrounds and who champion issues such as education, the economy, hawker welfare and the environment.

"Before this, they were part of pressure groups and had never experienced being directly involved in government policy planning.

"And that is why we invited them to be part of a coalition. We have fielded GB representatives as GTA candidates where they will play a role and have a voice in the formulation of policies if they are elected as MPs," he told Bernama here today.


Meanwhile, he said GTA is facing the challenge of explaining to voters about the coalition's struggle and why it was running in GE15 using the Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) logo.

In GE15, the GTA candidates will be contesting using the Pejuang logo except in Kelantan where they are using the Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (Putra) logo.

"GTA could not be registered (in time for GE15) so we agreed to use the Pejuang logo. During this campaign period, the challenge we face is that many people still wonder about our presence, what is Pejuang? Our message has not yet reached 100 percent when compared to other parties," he said.

GTA comprises four political parties, namely, Pejuang, Putra, Parti Barisan Jemaah Islamiah Se-Malaysia (Berjasa), Parti Perikatan India Muslim Nasional (IMAN), as well as GB.

-- BERNAMA