PKR Youth secretary Ahmad Syukri Razab has hit out at PH Youth chief and Pasir Pinji assemblyman Howard Lee’s claim earlier today that the opposition bloc’s presidential council had decided to use the coalition’s logo for the elections.

In a report by the Malaysian Insight, Lee also recognised that some in PKR may be resistant to the idea of not using their own logo in the polls.

Syukri slammed Lee’s comments as “superficial and hasty” as the presidential council had yet to make a public decision on the matter.

“Lee should have more respect for the decision-making process before issuing premature responses,” he said in a statement.

He said Lee needs to understand the views of the PKR grassroots, who insist that the party’s logo should be used by the coalition in GE15 due to the bloc’s success under the PKR banner in the 2018 election.

“It is highly inappropriate for Lee to use the name of the PH presidential council to deny the merits of this insistence from PKR’s grassroots. It was even more inappropriate given that Lee made it sound as though a decision had been made at the presidential council level.”

Syukri also took issue with comments Lee made about opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s by-election win in Port Dickson, which came under the PH banner. Lee had touted that as proof of the strength of the coalition’s logo.

Syukri said this was overly simplistic and did not take into account Anwar’s own popularity.

“Anwar’s victory was due to his name and credibility, which is known throughout the country. Maybe if Lee used the PH logo and contests in Tanjung Malim, the result could be different,” jabbed Syukri.

“I therefore advise Lee to remain calm and not be so aggressive in shutting down the critical views of the PKR grassroots.

“I also hope that the presidential council makes a decision on the logo based on facts and data. A field study by an independent agency should be conducted first to select the best logo for PH in GE15.”