Amanah now the talk in Labuan
Published on: Wednesday, July 11, 2018
Labuan: With the chips down for Barisan Nasional parties following the Pakatan Harapan Tsunami in the recent 14th General Election, the mood of the people has been towards joining any of the PH components or friends like Warisan, PKR and DAP.Following the appointment of Khalid Abdul Samad who won the Shah Alam seat under Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) ticket as Federal Territories minister, many here, including Ketua Kampongs are keen to join Amanah.They said by joining Amanah they may have immediate access to the minister which was important as the present village heads were appointed by the previous government and are unlikely to be reappointed.
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Hence, they wanted to move along with the tide.The source added that the village heads over the years had been so used to be under the ruling government and enjoying benefits as well recognition and felt painful to lose their positions and become a nobody's in their villages.It is doubtful whether these heads would want to play the opposition role in the village. Moving from one party to another is not an uncommon trend of local politics," the source said.
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Amanah is seen as a suitable option because it is Malay-based in power and had yet to set foot on the island unlike the other components of Pakatan Harapan such as PKR, DAP and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia.An additional factor was that under Amanah the members could continue to enjoy the same type of recognition as they enjoyed before under Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor who then FT minister. What was also helping them in the decision was that the Member of Parliament Datuk Rozman Isli who they fondly called 'Abang man' had also given up his post as Umno Chairman to Senator Datuk Bahir Alias. This was a signal that Rozman was also keen to join another party.
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There are 27 village heads in Labuan one of them, Seah Kiat Leong, had already resigned and joined PKR. All the heads have undergone a village governance course organised by the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development. The course was held to empower the village heads and increase their level of professionalism and also to raise their status.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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