MUAR: It is premature for Parti Pejuang Tanahair (Pejuang) to pick a mentri besar candidate for Johor, says its president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir (pic).

       "For now, we are not making such an announcement.

       "I think it is rather premature because we have to win the state election first," he said when met at a walkabout programme with the rakyat at Simpang Jeram here on Friday (Feb 25).

       On Thursday (Feb 24), Pejuang announced that it will be fielding 42 candidates in the March 12 polls, including state chief and Sri Gading MP Datuk Dr Shahruddin Md Salleh in the Machap seat.

       Mukhriz was asked to confirm whether or not Shahruddin would be its mentri besar candidate.

       Others possibilities include Nornekman Osman, the son of former Johor mentri besar Datuk Osman Sapian, whose death on Dec 21 led to the state election.

       He will stand in Kempas, a seat once held by his late father.

       Mukhriz said that at this point, Pejuang had a team of capable candidates to offer the rakyat of Johor.

       "The most important thing is the ability to form the state government," he noted.

       He said the target for Pejuang is to win as a team and it had learned from the experience of Pakatan Harapan which had announced its chief minister candidate for the Melaka state polls.

       "We do not want to depend only on one candidate.

       "We learn from Pakatan Harapan in Melaka when it focused only on the chief minister candidate.

       "In the end only he won, but not the rest," said Mukhriz.

       The former Kedah mentri besar said he also had the same experience when contesting in Kedah.

       "Although I was named mentri besar candidate, I still campaigned for my entire team.

       "Because if we don't win, we will not be able to hold the MB post and only become the Opposition, which is something we are not keen on," he added.

       Nomination day is on Saturday (Feb 26), with early voting on March 8.