KELANTAN Amanah is working with veteran Umno leader Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah in a campaign to topple PAS in the state in the next general election.

At the same time, former Amanah vice-president Husam Musa is leading a movement called NGO Save Kelantan to resolve the people’s problems.

PAS has been ruling the state since 1990.

On the first campaign, Kelantan Amanah deputy chairman Che Ibrahim Mohamed said the movement had long been invited by Tengku Razaleigh, better known as Ku Li, to join the Angkatan Amanah Merdeka movement.

“Ku Li invited and discussed with all the parties in Kelantan, including Amanah, no less than four times,” Che Ibrahim said in a statement.

He said a secretariat for the cross-party movement led by the Kelantan prince had been set up with the participation and discussion of Amanah representatives.

Efforts on the cooperation became the focus following the meeting of Kelantan Amanah leaders with Tengku Razaleigh at a breaking of the fast event last weekend.

It was reportedly joined by Kelantan Amanah chairman Muhammad Husin, former chairman Wan Abdul Rahim Wan Abdullah and its youth wing leader, Hazmi Hassan.

Last July, Che Ibrahim revealed that cooperation had been established with Umno leaders to avoid clashes in the next general election.

It is among the efforts in the new line-up that was pioneered after Umno decided not to work with Bersatu and PAS in the 15th general election (GE15).

In January, Kelantan Umno announced that it will not cooperate with PAS in GE15, but remained supportive of the state government until the state assembly is dissolved.

As for Husam’s campaign, Che Ibrahim said the party is not part of it, although it is helmed by a party veteran.

“Amanah does not know much about this Save Kelantan campaign. We have never been invited to discuss it and it has never been mentioned in any Amanah meeting,” he said.

Che Ibrahim said Kelantan Amanah does not need to participate in the Save Kelantan campaign.

“Amanah has never been invited to be with Save Kelantan as it has never intended to be with Amanah from the beginning,” he said.

According to Husam, who is also a former Salor assemblyman, the campaign, which will be officially launched on May 7, will be a platform to rebuke the state government out loud.

He was reported to have said that Save Kelantan, which he chairs, is a civil society group that goes beyond political understanding by focusing on proposals to resolve the people’s problems.

According to him, Save Kelantan has a vision to create a check-and-balance mechanism for state government actions.

Among the issues that will be highlighted are clean water supply and infrastructure, especially roads and logging problems, he said.

PAS currently governs Kelantan, after winning 39 of the 45 state seats in the May 2018 general election.

Umno, through Barisan Nasional, only won the Kok Lanas, Bukit Bunga, Kuala Balah, Nenggiri, Gual Ipoh and Paloh seats – seven fewer than the 13 seats it won in 2013.

Amanah held the Salor seat after the 2013 general election but lost in all seats it contested in 2018. – April 29, 2022.