Amanah leaders tell PAS veep they have no interest in joining Muafakat if resurrected

March 14, 2024

Amanah leaders tell PAS veep they have no interest in joining Muafakat if resurrected

KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 — Several Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) leaders have expressed their unwillingness for the party to be a part of the Malay-Muslim pact Muafakat Nasional (MN) if it was revived.

This followed the suggestion by PAS vice-president Datuk Seri Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar on the possible revival of MN, saying it is a suitable platform to unite Malay-based parties.

Free Malaysia Today (FMT) reported Amanah vice-president Datuk Mahfuz Omar as saying such cooperation was unnecessary as PAS had not wished to work with Pakatan Harapan (PH) to form the unity government after the 15th general election in 2022.

“What’s the point of Amanah joining (MN) if it’s to destroy the government and damage the country we have built?

“PAS has not changed… They only want to seize power or destabilise the country,” he was quoted as saying by the online news portal in a report today.

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The former Pokok Sena MP was responding to Ahmad Samsuri who had expressed his openness in reviving the MN pact during the Keluar Sekejap podcast yesterday.

Ahmad Samsuri, who is also the Terengganu menteri besar, said he would like to restore the MN pact with Umno and work towards uniting other Malay political parties, that included Amanah.

Amanah Youth chief Hasbie Muda, who was also quoted in the report, said that MN was considered “irrelevant” as the unity government was already safeguarding the interests of the Malay-Muslims.

“There is no need for Amanah to join MN.

“The unity government has proven to be more stable and solid than MN, which was fragile and easily fragmented,” he told FMT.

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Meanwhile, Amanah deputy president Datuk Seri Mujahid Yusof Rawa said there was no reason for the party to turn its back on its long-standing partnership with its PH allies.

He said this was especially after the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim stressed on the need for political stability during his maiden address to the Dewan Rakyat last month.

“MN should work to develop the country and cooperate with the unity government in any form necessary,” said the senator.

Amanah, a PH component party, is a PAS splinter which broke away from the Islamist party in 2015 following its departure from the previous Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition.

Since then, Amanah, led by former progressive PAS leaders, has grown with the support of PH components PKR and DAP. By promoting the idea of “compassionate Islam”, Amanah positions itself as a moderate and inclusive Islamist party.

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PAS and Umno entered into the informal MN charter in 2019 in an effort to unite the Malay-Muslim electorate after PH won power in the 2018 general election.

However, the Islamist party still maintained as a component of the registered Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition with Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) and Gerakan.

Umno, which is part of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, faced a strained relationship with PAS and the MN pact folded in 2020.

Last December, Amanah vice-president Adly Zahari said the party did not view PAS as an enemy, and would welcome its participation in the unity government.

Following that, PAS spiritual leader Datuk Hashim Jasin dismissed the idea, saying Amanah must sever ties with DAP if it was genuinely interested in a collaboration.

Last month it was reported that Hashim said informal talks had been held between leaders of PAS and Amanah to revive the MN pact, and also maintained that the Islamist party was still open to any form of cooperation with Umno.

However, Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi dismissed Hashim’s offer as insincere.