Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) today received approval from the Registrar of Societies (RoS) to use its name, replacing the Malaysian Workers Party as it was formerly known.
Amanah president Mohamad Sabu said the party was confident that the RoS would also give the green light for other changes applied for, such as its constitution.
“Today I heard the good news, RoS has approved our name,” Mohamad said, adding that the RoS had also given the nod to a change of address, as well as a change in designation for the party chairman to be president.
Amanah, the new party formed by a splinter faction from the Islamist opposition party, PAS, had earlier tried to set up a new party called Parti Progresif Islam but this was rejected by the RoS. It then took over and rebranded the inactive Malaysian Workers Party.
Mohamad today dismissed talk that Amanah was struggling to woo Malays to its fold. He said the new party had 30,000 members when it was officially launched last month, and expected the number to hit above 100,000 by December.
“We have the most members in Kelantan at the moment,” he told reporters during a press conference in George Town today, referring to the PAS-controlled state in the peninsula’s north east.
The PAS leadership, which is now completely controlled by the ulama faction, had been touchy about Amanah, which had split the Islamist party and taken some of its elected reps and members from the “progressive” faction.
Mohamed, who is also known as Mat Sabu, said Amanah would hold its first roadshow in Johor on October 9, which will also be attended by DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang and Opposition leader Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
He said work would also start in Penang to prepare for the next general election.
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng who was also at today’s press conference, announced the appointments of new chairmen and secretaries for 20 village development and security committee (JKKKs) in three districts in the state.
The appointments were made under the recommendation of Amanah.
Amanah replaces PAS in the new opposition pact, Pakatan Harapan, which was formed recently after the old pact Pakatan Rakyat collapsed in June over unresolved differences between PAS and DAP. In Penang, this resulted in the removal of PAS representatives in the state government, and their replacement by those recommended by Amanah. – October 2, 2015.
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