AFTER Bersatu agreed to give up the Kuala Kangsar seat to Amanah, the moderate Islamic party said it is now willing to swap its Lumut seat with fellow Pakatan Harapan party member PKR for the greater good of the opposition pact.

Perak Amanah chairman Asmuni Awi said the party swapped the Bukit Gantang seat for Bersatu’s Kuala Kangsar.

“If PKR wants Lumut, we are prepared to swap if PKR is willing to pass us a seat which is suitable.

“This isn’t just for Perak seats, but for seats in other states, regardless of whether it’s Permatang Pauh or Lembah Pantai,” Asmuni told The Malaysian Insight in response to reports that PKR is unhappy with the fact that it lost out on the Lumut seat, which the party had won in the 13th general election.

PKR Lumut spokesman Mohd Zairas said supporters in the area are unhappy with PH’s decision to allocate the Lumut parliamentary seat to Amanah.

However, division chief and Lumut MP Mohamad Imran Abd Hamid said he accepted the decision of the leadership even if he disagreed with it.

In the PH seat allocation, Bersatu was given the most number of seats in the peninsula at 52, PKR (51), DAP (35) and Amanah (27).

Amanah was given the Bukit Gantang, Lumut, Parit and Parit Buntar seats. 

A day after the seat allocation was announced, PH Perak said it has agreed to swap seats, namely for Amanah to take Kuala Kangsar and Bersatu to contest in Bukit Gantang, which was won by PAS vice-president Idris Ahmad in the last elections.

Amanah wants to contest in Kuala Kangsar because the party claims to have been carrying out election activities since the Kuala Kangsar by-election in June 2016.

“We entered the last election with only two branches, but we have 26 branches now compared with PAS which only has 23,” said former Amanah candidate for the Kuala Kangsar by-election, Dr Ahmad Termizi Ramli.

Termizi, a former professor at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), lost to the Barisan Nasional candidate Mastura Mohd Yazid by 6,969 votes out of more than 23,000 votes cast.

“Since the by-election, we have activated the Amanah election machinery here aggressively, and have spent more than RM500,000 to build it up,” he said.

He expressed confidence that Amanah will be fully prepared in Kuala Kangsar for the 14^th general election. – January 26, 2018.