Parti Amanah Negara in Johor: Birth, Challenges and Prospects

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Islam has always been an important factor in Malaysia's politics. Even political parties whose members are mainly non-Muslims cannot run away from debating the role of Islam in public policy. Since its establishment in 1951, the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) has dominated the discourse on political Islam, and many others have had to respond and compete with it. It would not be wrong to say that the deepening Islamization in Malaysia over the years is the result of political competition between PAS and the ruling coalition. However, a new development took place in 2015 when a group of senior PAS leaders left the party to form Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah). PAS suddenly found a competitor who is also staking a claim on the right to define and shape the discourse on political Islam in the country.

This essay looks into the break-up and its implications on the politics in the southern state of Johor, since this was the state where much of the groundwork to form Amanah took place. Following this introduction, a brief history behind the break-up is provided. Attention is then given to Johor, with a discussion on the role of activists in the state that led to the formation of Amanah, the party's current organization, and their likely electoral potential. The essay concludes with a discussion on how the emergence of Amanah may affect PAS in Johor.

FROM PAS TO AMANAH

To understand how Amanah came to be, a brief review of the evolution of Islamist thoughts in Malaysia is useful, as it has heavily influenced PAS’ own evolution. The history behind PAS’ establishment in 1951 is a contested one. Arguably, it was closely tied to the strategy of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) which was founded six years earlier, especially to the latter's desire to widen its support base. UMNO at that time was worried that it was losing support from conservative Malay Muslims and wanted therefore to reposition itself as a champion of Islam. Thus, UMNO sponsored two Ulama Congress (Perjumpaan Alim Ulama Tanah Melayu), on 20–22 February 1950 and 23 August 1951. The purpose was to bring together conservative Muslim scholars to discuss, among others, steps that they could take to bring the country towards independence.