The “harum manis” term is used by some party members in the north to describe PAS members crossing over to Amanah.
Harum manis is a type of mango found in Perlis that turns from green to orange when ripe. The simile is used to describe PAS crossing over to Amanah, whose party colour is orange.
In revealing its new leadership line-up today, the state’s Amanah leaders said many PAS members are eager to cross over, describing those wanting to do so as having “one leg out already”.
“We have moved to Amanah from PAS. It was fated that we’d win the last general election.
“There are PAS people who want to join us, with one leg out already. But their other ‘leg’ still loves their old ‘wife’ (PAS).
“That is the reality. Whatever it is, we are still friends as we believe in the concept of ‘rahmah’ (mercy) for all,” Penang Amanah’s deputy chief Mohamed Yusoff Mohamed Noor said today.
State Amanah chief Roslan Ahmad said the party’s focus was not just on PAS per se, but people of all races, following the party’s policy of rahmatan lil alamin (mercy to all creations).
“We are friends with all and we want to help all,” said the newly-minted party chief at a press conference today.
He said besides getting more people to join the party, its main agenda was to be agents countering hate speech, racism and fake news.
Roslan said it would focus on countering the racist rhetoric spewed by other parties through its large grassroots network in the villages, city councils and state assemblies.
He said the party would engage with its 56 village community management council (MPKK) members throughout the country to counter the false and dangerous narratives of the opposition.
Roslan said it also has four party-nominated city councillors in the Penang and Seberang Perai councils, along with its two state assemblymen Azrul Mahathir Abd Aziz and Faiz Fadzil.
“Our MPKK members will fight misinformation at the grassroots level. We want to remind all that hate speech and fake news are weakening Pakatan Harapan and it is our priority to fight these,” Roslan, a former mechanical engineering professor, told reporters today.
The party’s communications director, Dr Zaidi Zakaria, said the party has made significant inroads in “black areas” or places where Pakatan Harapan is weak.
He said the state Pakatan Harapan coalition has fulfilled 70% of the promises in the GE14 manifesto to date.
“We have a balanced leadership, with a high number of professionals. And we have been going to places that were hard to win in the past and the response has been encouraging,” he said.
In the last general election, Amanah won two out of three state seats contested in Penang but lost the parliamentary seat in Kepala Batas, a traditional Umno stronghold.