KUALA LUMPUR – In a bid to keep Amanah strong and intact moving into the next general election, its vice-president Datuk Mahfuz Omar has urged the party’s remaining 38 elected representatives to stay true to the cause and set aside personal interests.
This is after three more assemblymen, all from Johor, decided to defect and join Pakatan Harapan (PH) ally PKR. Mahfuz said while the party may have its challenges, MPs and assemblymen ought to face them head on, including rejecting the temptation of jumping ship.
“I know there are a lot of offers going around, even from Perikatan Nasional (PN),” he told The Vibes today.
“But if you are going to move to another party in PH, which doesn’t benefit the coalition at all in terms of numbers and brings no meaning, then it is better to stay and strengthen our party.
“Yes, we are hoping the rest will stay. We need to be patient. We must prioritise our struggle for the people, and we must not be opportunistic, which the rakyat will eventually reject.”
Mahfuz was commenting on the decision by Khairuddin A. Rahim (Senggarang), Muhamad Said Jonit (Mahkota), and Faizul Amri Adnan (Serom) to join PKR, leaving Amanah with 27 assemblymen nationwide.
Previously, Selangor assemblymen Mohd Fakhrulrazi Mohd Mokhtar (Meru) and Ahmad Mustain Othman (Sabak) left Amanah to join its PH partner.
Khairuddin was quoted as saying that he decided to join PKR as he wanted to contest at the parliamentary level, something Amanah – which has 11 MPs currently – could not afford due to its smaller seat allocations. The party was only given 27 of the 222 federal seats to contest in the last election.
Mahfuz, who is Pokok Sena MP, said this would change in the coming polls, with Amanah now eyeing 50 parliamentary seats, after former PH ally Bersatu left for PN.
“But if we are to please everyone in the party, then even 50 is not enough. Maybe then more assemblymen can be picked to contest under the PKR banner.”
“So these assemblymen (who defected) feel they have credibility. I can only wish them all the luck. On our part, I think we can now be seen as an MP-producing factory,” he said, sarcastically.
Amanah adviser Datuk Seri Ahmad Awang told The Vibes that the decision by the assemblymen to jump ship may have been done prematurely as seat distribution for the coming election is yet to begin.
“To my knowledge, although we have begun moving our machineries, the issue of seat allocation has not been discussed at the PH level yet.
“Perhaps, their (defected assemblymen) interpretation was done based on the seat distribution in the 2018 general election.”
In any case, Ahmad said the matter of party-hopping was raised and discussed during Amanah’s leadership meeting last month, and that the party will not stop anyone from leaving for a fellow PH ally, as it is their right.
He added that this is provided they can assure that they will be committed to carrying out their duties as assemblymen and continuing to uphold unity in the coalition. – The Vibes, February 28, 2021
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