Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA)
Mahathir Mohamad's Malay-based coalition, announced on 4 August 2022, which was never registered, contested the November 2022 general election under Pejuang's logo, won no seats, and lost every parliamentary deposit.
Who is in it
Previously, and no longer: PEJUANG, PUTRA, BERJASA, IMAN.
Party membership of a coalition changes over time. The dates behind this are the same ones the Coalition River on the home page is drawn from.
The account
Gerakan Tanah Air is the clearest recent illustration of what an unregistered coalition can and cannot do at an election. Mahathir Mohamad announced it in Putrajaya on 4 August 2022, three and a half months before polling, as a bloc of four Malay-based parties — his own Pejuang, plus Putra, Berjasa and Iman — aimed at strengthening the Malays, particularly economically.
He chaired it, each component president became a deputy chairman, and he said it would field candidates in 120 peninsular seats, mostly Malay-majority ones. He also said it would apply for registration soon, and added that if the Registrar of Societies did not approve the name, they would choose another.
The registration never came. By 11 October 2022, with Parliament already dissolved, GTA decided that its candidates would stand under Pejuang's name and logo instead, since the Registrar had not approved it. The exception was Kelantan, where Putra stood under its own banner; Putra candidates elsewhere ran as Pejuang.
So voters saw Pejuang on the ballot in most places, even where the candidate belonged to one of the other three parties. A coalition that is not registered has no symbol of its own, and this is what that looks like in practice.
The result was total. GTA won nothing. On Election Commission data reported by The Edge, all 124 of its candidates at the 19 November polls lost their deposits, with a 125th standing in Padang Serai, where polling was deferred to December:
- Pejuang
- 83 candidates
- Putra
- 30 candidates
- Berjasa
- 7 candidates
- Iman
- 4 candidates
A parliamentary candidate forfeits a RM10,000 deposit by taking less than one-eighth of the votes cast, so the coalition forfeited about RM1.24 million, which The Edge described as likely the largest such loss by any coalition in Malaysian electoral history. Nationally, 374 candidates lost deposits worth RM3.74 million; GTA accounted for a third of that.
Mahathir himself lost Langkawi, a seat he had held and an island he had developed across his premierships, taking 4,566 votes in a five-cornered contest won by Perikatan Nasional's Mohd Suhaimi Abdullah with a majority of 13,518. He lost his deposit there too. Afterwards he said Pejuang's plans for the country had been dropped and that the party could not even function as an opposition in Parliament.
The coalition came apart within months:
- 14 January 2023Pejuang announced its withdrawal, with Mukhriz Mahathir saying delegates at the party assembly had pushed for it after the election, and that he had flagged the sentiment to GTA's supreme council in December.
- May 2023Mahathir resigned as chairman, saying his chairmanship was a thing of the past and the coalition "didn't work out".
- June 2026Pejuang went on to join Perikatan Nasional.
Nothing found records GTA being formally wound up, or the other three parties leaving.
What the sources say
Formation
Mahathir Mohamad announced the formation of Gerakan Tanah Air in Putrajaya on 4 August 2022, describing it as aimed at strengthening the Malays, especially in the economic field. Its components were Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang), Parti Perikatan India Muslim Nasional (Iman), Parti Barisan Jemaah Islamiah Se-Malaysia (Berjasa) and Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (Putra).
Mahathir was chairman. The four deputy chairmen were Zamani Ibrahim (Berjasa), Ibrahim Ali (Putra), Mukhriz Mahathir (Pejuang) and Mohammed Mosin Abdul Razak (Iman), with Marzuki Yahya as secretary-general.
Mahathir said GTA was open to non-governmental organisations, individuals, academics and professional groups among the Malays, that it would apply for registration soon, and that it would field candidates in 120 parliamentary constituencies in Peninsular Malaysia, especially Malay-majority areas.
Registration and the ballot
GTA was not registered. On 11 October 2022 it decided to contest the general election using Pejuang's name and logo, because the Registrar of Societies had not approved its registration even though Parliament had already been dissolved.
Mahathir said candidates from all four component parties would stand under the Pejuang name, except in Kelantan, where Putra would contest under its own banner; Putra candidates elsewhere, including in Terengganu and Perak, would use the Pejuang name.
Free Malaysia Today reported in May 2023 that GTA had been unable to secure official registration with the Registrar of Societies.
The 2022 general election
GTA contested under the Pejuang flag and won no seats. On Election Commission data reported by The Edge, none of the 124 candidates it fielded at the 19 November polls retained their deposits: 83 from Pejuang, 30 from Putra, 7 from Berjasa and 4 from Iman. A 125th GTA candidate contested Padang Serai, where polling was deferred to 7 December.
A parliamentary candidate must pay a RM10,000 deposit and forfeits it if they win less than one-eighth of the votes cast. GTA's RM1.24 million in forfeited deposits was, on The Edge's account, likely the single highest such loss by a coalition in Malaysian electoral history; across all parties, 374 candidates lost deposits totalling RM3.74 million.
Mahathir lost Langkawi in a five-cornered contest with 4,566 votes and forfeited his deposit. The seat was won by Mohd Suhaimi Abdullah of Perikatan Nasional, with a majority of 13,518 votes.
Mahathir said after the result that whatever plans Pejuang had for the country had been dropped, and that the scale of the loss meant the party could not even serve as an opposition in Parliament.
Afterwards
14 January 2023
Pejuang announced its withdrawal from GTA on 14 January 2023. Its president Mukhriz Mahathir said the decision followed the views of delegates at the party's second general assembly after the general election result, and that he had told the GTA supreme council on 6 December 2022 that there was sentiment among Pejuang members for the party to leave.
Mahathir left GTA in May 2023, saying his chairmanship was a thing of the past and that he no longer held any position in the coalition, because it had failed to win voters' support.
23 June 2026
Pejuang joined Perikatan Nasional on 23 June 2026, together with Parti Cinta Malaysia, after an emergency meeting of the Perikatan Nasional supreme council.
Where accounts differ
How many seats GTA contested
The Edge, using Election Commission data, gives 124 parliamentary candidates at the 19 November polls plus one in the deferred Padang Serai contest. Free Malaysia Today reports 125 seats. Mahathir's own stated target in August 2022 was 120.
Whether GTA still exists
No source located records GTA being formally dissolved, or Putra, Berjasa or Iman leaving it. What the record shows is Pejuang withdrawing in January 2023, Mahathir resigning as chairman in May 2023 and saying it "didn't work out", and Pejuang joining Perikatan Nasional in June 2026. The membership dates above end the other three components in May 2023 on the strength of Mahathir's resignation and his statement that it did not work out, not on any recorded act of dissolution or withdrawal.
Why the result was as it was
Mahathir said the coalition had failed to win voters' support and that it "didn't help us win the general election". Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid of Universiti Sains Malaysia told The Edge that the race-based discourse Mahathir projected through the coalition had failed to resonate even among conservative Malay-Muslims, and that the deposit loss in Langkawi signalled the end of an era. These are their assessments.
Common questions
Which parties were in Gerakan Tanah Air?
Four: Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang), Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (Putra), Parti Barisan Jemaah Islamiah Se-Malaysia (Berjasa) and Parti Perikatan India Muslim Nasional (Iman). Mahathir Mohamad announced the coalition on 4 August 2022 and chaired it, with each component president as a deputy chairman.
Was GTA a registered coalition?
No. Mahathir said in August 2022 that it would apply to the Registrar of Societies and would pick another name if the application was refused. By 11 October 2022, with Parliament dissolved and no approval received, GTA decided its candidates would contest under Pejuang's name and logo instead. Free Malaysia Today reported in May 2023 that it had been unable to secure registration.
How did GTA do at the 2022 general election?
It won no seats. On Election Commission data reported by The Edge, all 124 of its candidates at the 19 November polls lost their deposits, forfeiting about RM1.24 million — described as likely the single highest such loss by a coalition in Malaysian electoral history. Nationally, 374 candidates lost deposits totalling RM3.74 million.
What happened to Mahathir in Langkawi?
He lost. In a five-cornered contest Mahathir took 4,566 votes and forfeited his deposit; the seat went to Mohd Suhaimi Abdullah of Perikatan Nasional with a majority of 13,518. Mahathir said afterwards that Pejuang's plans for the country had been dropped and that the party could not even serve as an opposition in Parliament.
Does GTA still exist?
No formal dissolution has been recorded. Pejuang withdrew on 14 January 2023, and Mahathir resigned as chairman in May 2023, saying the coalition "didn't work out" and that he no longer held any position in it. Pejuang joined Perikatan Nasional in June 2026.
Still open
- Did GTA ever submit a registration application to the Registrar of Societies, and what became of it?
- Was GTA formally dissolved, and if so when and by whom?
- Are Putra, Berjasa and Iman still describing themselves as GTA components?