PETALING JAYA: Parti Amanah Negara is ready to work with any party that joins Pakatan Harapan, as long as there is agreement between the members, said its secretary-general Mohd Anuar Tahir (pic).
“Of course we can work with any other party as long as it is decided based on consensus,” he said on Tuesday.
He said that Amanah always expected more parties to join the newly-formed pact and was not under the impression that membership would remain exclusively to PKR, DAP and Amanah.
Anuar also backed PKR deputy president Azmin Ali’s advice for opposition parties to stop bickering and meddling in each other’s affairs.
“Amanah fully supports that statement. We are constantly looking to the future and have no time to bicker and answer baseless allegations thrown at us,” he said.Queried on PAS’ call for the resignation of MPs who had joined Amanah, Anuar said that would be akin to betraying the people’s trust.
“We value the trust given to us by the people in the last general election and have instructed these MPs to honour that commitment until their terms end,” he said, adding that the constituencies of these MPs were not just made up of PAS voters.
Asked about the possibility of three-way fights in the next general election after Amanah emerged as a splinter group from PAS, he said that the pact would do its best to achieve a consensus on direct fights.
“The negotiations in the past have been successful and in the next election, we will also try our best to ensure that there are one-on-one fights in most constituencies.
“However, if three-way contests cannot be avoided, then we will leave it to the voters to decide,” he added.
Anuar was speaking to reporters after announcing several new appointments to the party’s central committee.
Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad was officially unveiled as the party’s communications director, while Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad was given the role of strategic director.
The party also appointed Dr Mohd Hatta Ramli as its elections director, while local singer Wan Aishah Wan Ariffin was made a national committee member to represent the interests of artists.
Amanah is targeting a membership base of 100,000 by 2016 and is currently processing 50,000 new applications.
Anuar said they are also looking to expand their influence by setting up protem committees at 500 branches nationwide.
Source: The Star