Mat Sabu: Amanah yet to meet over Umno exodus
IPOH: Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) will discuss whether there is any application from Umno MPs to join the party even as it welcomes a former MP from Gerakan.
Its president Mohamad Sabu said the party had yet to discuss the latest exodus affecting Umno.
“If there is any application to join Amanah, we will not only discuss within the party but with the Pakatan Harapan leadership as well,” he told reporters after launching the three-day National Amanah Convention here yesterday.
Mohamad was responding to a question whether Amanah would accept any ex-Umno member.
On Wednesday, Sabah Umno was crippled following the exodus of its key leaders, which saw the resignation of nine out of its 10 assemblymen, five out of six MPs and 22 out of 25 division chiefs.
It is believed that Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia is set to open a chapter in Sabah, which these former Umno leaders would be a part of.
PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had since said his party would not accept any of the former Umno leaders who wanted to cross over.
DAP Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh Deo had made a similar call to his party.
Asked whether former Umno members joining the government would make things difficult for Pakatan, Mohamad said: “No.”
He also described those leaving Umno as “intelligent”, saying that the party was a “sinking ship”.
“They can leave the party and stay outside. If there are applications to join other component parties, especially for a top post, we need to keep tabs and have discussions,” he said.
Earlier in his speech, Mohamad criticised PAS and Umno for using racial and religious sentiments as a tool to gain Malay support.
He said this unethical attitude would only produce Malays, whose minds were racist, and nourish extremism.
Mohamad later announced that Datuk Loo Yeng Peng, who was Gerakan’s Puchong MP from 2004 to 2008, had joined Amanah.
Loo, who was also a former central committee member, resigned from Gerakan in 2013.