By Kuek Ser Kuang Keng
However, the central council of Amanah, founded by several BN veteran politicians, headed by Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah from Umno, has yet to make a decision, said its deputy president Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir 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 what is going to be like in the future, but I can tell you that most of our members ,including the leaders of Amanah, really want Amanah to turn into a political party and do something concrete to bring about change,” he said.
According to Kadir, the NGO, even without any concrete programmes has recruited some 10,000 members mostly from Selangor, Sabah and Sarawak.
It has become a platform for BN dissidents struggling to be heard including 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 during a time when polls look 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 is still mulling over it, but indicated that the possibility of them returning to the BN is 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.
“So we owe it to the future generations, this is our contribution to the future generations,” he said.
Kadir 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 which are not active now, and they said ‘why don’t you use my political party’. It was not one, there were many.”
However, Kadir was all for Amanah being registered on its own if the decision is in favour of 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?
Although not explicitly expressing support for Pakatan Rakyat, Kadir pointed out that the two groups share similar views on many issues.
“On issues and so on, we seems to be almost 80 percent in agreement with what the opposition has been fighting for. So far, on issues, we are together.”
Should Amanah joins forces with Pakatan, he said, it would lend strength the opposition coalition’s credentials as it boasts some “big names”.
Comparing Pakatan and the BN, Kadir noted that both are similar in terms of being multi-racial, upholding the constitution, promoting business friendly economic policies that work towards a high-income society, but the opposition is more “equitable” than the ruling coalition.
“On the other side, Pakatan Rakyat, you have three parties which 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 term of their strength which means that all of them really try to accommodate each other and to be fair to each other, none is dictating too much… so we can expect a fairer decision,” he said.
Kadir also recognised that Pakatan has 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, has done 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 forth prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and as information minister under fifth prime minister Abdullah.
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