Islam took centre stage at Amanah convention

ANALYSIS | Parti Amanah Negara wrapped its third convention in Ipoh on Sunday, Dec 16, during which it passed 10 resolutions - of which four raised lengthy and sometimes fiery debates.

Generally, the annual general meeting of this young political entity, which dubbed itself as the “orange party” seemed energetic and this was expected, since Amanah came to power after only three years of its formation by ex-PAS leaders who parted ways with the Islamist party to pursue a somewhat more liberal and moderate struggle.

However, there seemed to be a big contradiction in the list of resolutions passed at this latest Amanah convention.

As part of the Pakatan Harapan coalition which defeated BN and ended its 61 years of rule, the 156 Amanah divisions were expected to at least come up with motions to showcase constructive proposals on how the new federal government could steer Malaysia's economy and policies towards excellence in the face of the country's RM1 trillion debt.

However, what the delegates at the convention were much more interested in, from this writer's perspective, was the agenda of furthering Amanah's 'rahmatan lil alamin' concept - which translates as “Islam as a blessing for all”.

This could be seen from the fiery debates triggered by one of the four motions the party put on the table - to make this Amanah philosophy a national agenda. Debates on this motion took up much time, compared with the three other related proposals, with a total of 12 delegates going up the stage to present their arguments, including four who objected to it.

Pulai delegate Abdul Aziz Muhammad in tabling the motion called for the 'rahmatan lil alamin' concept to be at the forefront of the Harapan government, saying that it should be implemented in all spheres, including in economy, health, defence, development, education and agriculture, among others.

Abdul Aziz said the government could take the example of fifth prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's Islam Hadhari concept, which was successfully adopted during Abdullah's premiership and understood by all.

Claiming that the 'rahmatan lil alamin' concept had been made fun of by some due to misinterpretation, he stressed that it would not encroach the rights of Malays and the bumiputera while the non-Muslims should also not worry as it did not infringe on their religious beliefs and cultures.

While Amanah's strong sentiment for this concept could be understood, especially when it was among the factors that made it accepted by Harapan supporters if compared to PAS' more fundamentalist and somewhat stern view of Islam, this motion, in the writer's opinion, could have given way to other more pressing issues surrounding the country and Harapan.

Call to stop pointing fingers

At least one delegate saw this, and when debating his objection to the motion, stressed that there was no hurry to push the government to adopt the concept and that its practice should start within Amanah first.

Another resolution called for all Muslims to be in solidarity with efforts to save Tabung Haji and yet another urged the government to play a proactive role to end the crisis in Yemen.

The Tabung Haji motion was put forth by Amanah vice-president Hasanuddin Mohd Yunus (photo), who called for all efforts to investigate corruption graft in the pilgrimage agency to be supported and for full confidence to be given to Tabung Haji's new management to solve the problem.

A round of applause could be given to Hasanuddin for proposing this to the convention but the question is, was this motion necessary to be opened up for debate?

It is difficult to understand why the convention's committee, tasked with selecting resolution proposals, choose this motion to debate when it could have just been accepted without the need for it to be put up for discussion.

Amanah Women's wing, meanwhile, had a rather stronger point in proposing for the party to call on the Harapan government to make a strong stance against the crisis in Yemen and to offer itself as an intermediary.

Pushpa Nagiah Vengadesan, who tabled this motion, also called for the government to urge Saudi Arabia to withdraw its military forces from the conflict area and for all warring factions to come to the discussion table.

One resolution during the convention that could be praised was the motion on rebuilding the country's economy under the "New Malaysia", which was put forth by Muhaimin Sulam of the Pasir Salak division.

Saying that administrations that did not have a strong economy to fall back on would not be able to build a “negara bangsa”, Muhaimin called on the Harapan government to stop pointing fingers at the previous administration.

He said they should stop using "alasan Pak Pandir" (lame excuses) and blame the former BN regime but should instead start introducing constructive economic approaches towards proving that Harapan could bring new hope to the rakyat.

No to 'a lot of noise'

This proposal was largely welcomed by the 939 delegates present and was later unanimously passed, after being debated by three other delegates from the Dungun and Gombak divisions and Amanah Youth.

A delegate from Dungun, Badrul Bulat, agreed that pointing fingers would not take the country anywhere and that the government should have clear policies to spur entrepreneurship.

Badrul said these policies must be well understood by all government agencies as well as the implementers at all levels.

Amanah Youth's Nik Abdul Razak Nik Mohd Ridzuan took a swipe at Putrajaya over Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's plan to have a third national car, which he described as contradicting the administration's narrative that Malaysia was in a huge debt hole.

Nik Abdul Razak urged Amanah cabinet members to counsel the Harapan leadership against making decisions without taking into account the people's views, citing the recent PTPTN salary deduction scheme as an example of an unacceptable decision.

Gombak delegate Nik Zin Raja Sulaiman in his debate reminded Amanah leaders that they should focus on the people's need to put food on their tables.

Saying that the rakyat, especially those in rural areas, do not comprehend "big talk" about investments and such, Nik Zin pointed out they were more concerned about the rising cost of living.

This matter, if not addressed, would only result in the people being upset and thus leading them to reject the Harapan coalition, he said.

"We do not want to hear a lot of noise about the economy, talk about investments because the village folk do not understand all these things.

"What they want to know is why fish and livestock are expensive. As a party that carries the people's aspiration, please do something," Nik Zin added. - Mkini