Party president Mohamad Sabu said today “this issue should not be discussed through the media as it has not yet been addressed by the unity government’s top leaders.”
He urged all coalition partners in the unity government, especially Amanah members, to fully focus on the Nenggiri by-election on Aug 17.
Amanah vice-president Hatta Ramli told FMT that the youth wing’s call did not reflect the party’s stance. “That statement was issued by a Amanah Youth executive council member. It is not a statement from (the national-level) Amanah,” said Hatta.
Amanah communications director Khalid Samad told FMT: “We would obviously prefer for that not to happen,” when asked whether Amanah wanted to be involved in a three-cornered fight with Umno.
However, he added: “Of course, our stance is that we also want to contest the seat, but we won’t be making demands or issuing ultimatums.”
“There are seats which we have traditionally been contesting which were also traditionally contested by Umno. This will always be an issue, but it will be settled through discussions at the national level,” said Khalid. “What is decided there will be accepted by everybody.”
The call to contest in Mahkota had come from Fadhli Umar Aminolhuda who said Amanah Youth is keen on pushing for the party to field a candidate in the by-election, even if it means standing against Umno.
He said the Johor state government is not a unity government, a term which refers to the federal coalition involving Pakatan Harapan, Barisan Nasional, and East Malaysian parties.
Umar said the Umno-led Johor government has not formed an alliance with PH in the state. He added that Amanah had been denied roles in the formation of local council members and village heads.
Khalid said such disagreements between parties were normal considering that both Amanah and Umno contested the seat in the previous two elections.
Khalid said it was only natural for parties to want to contest seats which they feel they have the potential of winning, which he admitted could pose a challenge considering that Amanah and Umno are both part of the unity government at the federal level.