Pressure on Amanah to turn into political party

The newly-formed Angkatan Amanah Merdeka (Amanah), NGO is being pressured by members to become a political party and join the opposition in the looming general election.

However, the central council of Amanah, founded by several BN veteran politicians led by Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah of Umno, has yet to make a decision, its deputy president Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir said in an interview with Malaysiakini on Tuesday.

"We are really under pressure, especially (from members in) Sabah and Sarawak. The members who have joined Amanah as an NGO - but a very political NGO - they really want Amanah to be turned into a political party and join the opposition, not to be a third force or something like that

"But as it is now, we are still holding on as a NGO, so I can't really say answer what Amanah is going to be like in the future. But I can tell you that most of our members, including the leaders, really want Amanah to become a political party and do something concrete to bring about change," Kadir said.

Even without any concrete programmes, he said, the NGO has recruited some 10,000 members, mostly from Selangor, Sabah and Sarawak.

The organisation, launched in July and officially registered in November last year, aims to revive the "sense of togetherness and true family spirit of Malaysians during independence".

It has become a platform for BN dissidents struggling to be heard, including Tengku Razaleigh, Kadir, former MCA president Ong Tee Keat, former MIC deputy president S Subramaniam and Sabah BN component party United Pasokmomogun Kadazan Dusun Murut Organisation (Upko) deputy president Wilfred M Bumburing.

Sending up smoke signals
The group's emergence at a time when a snap general election appears imminent has raised the question of whether it will contest the election under a flag other than that of the BN's.

Pressed further on Amanah's prospects in the polls, Kadir, a former minister and Umno veteran, said the leadership was still mulling the matter, but indicated  that the possibility of "returning to the BN" was slim.

"We are going to discuss this very soon, I cannot tell you, but as you know, we are beginning to make our voice heard.

"For us, many of us, the leaders especially, we've been there already, we've been ministers and so on, we don't have to go back there but we see a lot of things not being done right.
"So we owe it to the future generations, this is our contribution to the future generations," Kadir said.

He admitted that some dormant political parties offered Amanah their names to venture into politics.

"If we want to become a political party... we have to apply for registration. Of course there is always this fear that the government will delay our application or reject our application, even though we know it is our constitutional right.

"Of course there were people coming around. There are a lot of parties that are not active now, and they ask, 'why don't you use my political party?' It was not one, there were many."

However, Kadir is all for Amanah being registered on its own if the decision is in favour of it becoming a political party.

Strong stand on rights

"I told them if we decide to go political, we should apply to be a political party, why should we use another party?

"It is our constitutional right. It should not take long to approve it if the government is sincere. If they are not sincere, the rakyat will know and we'll go to court," said the 73-year-old.

Although not explicitly expressing support for Pakatan Rakyat, Kadir pointed out that the two groups shared similar views on many issues.

"On issues and so on, we seem to be almost 80 percent in agreement with what the opposition has been fighting for. So far, on issues, we are together."

Should Amanah join forces with Pakatan, he said, it would lend strength to the opposition coalition's credentials as Amanah boasts some "big names".

Comparing Pakatan with the BN, Kadir noted that both were similar in terms of being multi-racial, upholding the constitution, promoting business friendly economic policies that work towards a high-income society - but he sees the opposition as being more "equitable" than the ruling coalition.

"Somehow or other, in this BN... Umno is very dominant, so it can be quite restrictive for other (component parties) in term of check-and-balance.

"On the other side, with Pakatan Rakyat we have three parties that are quite equal in terms of their strength. PAS seems to be representing the rural Malays, PKR seems to be representing the more liberal urban Malays and DAP seems to be representing the Chinese.

"They are quite equal in terms of their strength, which means that all of them really try to accommodate one another and to be fair to the others, none dictates too much... so we can expect fairer decisions," he said.

Kadir also recognised Pakatan as having many "highly qualified and God-fearing leaders" ready to replace the current regime.

He also cited Thailand Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, arguing that lack of experience should not be the reason to reject Pakatan because Shinawatra, a political novice, was doing a "wonderful job" administrating the nation.

Kadir is the eldest son of one of the founding members of Umno and has been active in the party since the administration of second prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein.

He served as culture, arts and tourism minister under fourth prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and as information minister under fifth prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.