SHAH ALAM: The Parti Amanah Negara’s (Amanah) National Convention 2019 which concluded yesterday had reflected the party’s maturity in the country’s political scene as well as gave a clear message of its determination to preserve stability by maintaining ‘old faces’ in its leadership line-up.
The party faced its first election since its inception in 2015, and the e-voting process went smoothly involving 821 delegates without controversies or unwarranted scenes that could hurt the party’s image.
Its president Mohamad Sabu retained his post in the party despite was ranked at seventh place among 27 elected members of its National Leadership Committee.
The decision to retain Mohamad as president was made during a special meeting by the committee which also agreed to maintain Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub as the party’s deputy president, while the three vice-president posts were filled by Datuk Mahfuz Omar, Datuk Seri Dr Mujahid Yusof and Datuk Hasanuddin Mohd Yunus.
During the election, Khalid Abdul Samad received the highest number of votes however there was no power struggle as they preferred retaining existing leaders.
Commenting the decision, Khalid said the election was not to elect president but rather to ensure the continuation of the party.
A political analyst Prof Dr Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani said the convention had shown that Amanah wanted to preserve its stability while carrying a progressive Islamic image to face PAS which currently working with Umno under ‘Muafakat Nasional’ banner.
“Delegates also showed their maturity during the debate as they realised the need to strengthen Amanah which is still wet behind the ears,” he said.
The fourth annual convention that was held for three days at the Ideal Convention Centre here also saw party delegates took the debate stage more boldly as they criticized and advised Amanah leaders.
Amanah leaders who were at the receiving end, however, appeared to have taken it in their stride as they professionally responded to the raised issues.
In line with its theme ‘Kestabilan Memacu Kemakmuran Bersama’ (Stability Drives Shared Prosperity), among issues raised by the delegates were graduates unemployment, a recommendation to the Election Commission to increase the number of parliament seats in line with #Undi18, as well as Amanah’s role in Pakatan Harapan (PH).
The convention also approved several motions, including amending the party’s constitution to include a vice-president post for Sabah or Sarawak and establishing a leadership institute.
Amanah, a splinter party of PAS, has been gaining popularity among Malaysians in a steady momentum as shown by its membership at almost 200,000 to date, thus deflected any doubt of its ability to perform in PH.
In his winding-up speech, Mohamad reiterated that the party would remain in the political accord with other component parties in PH, as well as avoid any conflict in the coalition to ensure the continuation of the PH government in the future. — Bernama
