Amanah delegates boycott Pakatan Harapan convention

An unidentified Amanah delegate confronting the group who supported Anwar as their prime minister candidate for the Opposition.

SHAH ALAM: Pakatan Harapan's second convention hit a snag when several Parti Amanah Negara delegates chose to boycott the event over the finalised seat distribution for the 14th general election which they deemed "unfair".

Johor Amanah chairman Aminolhuda Hassan said the boycott was called because they were only given two parliamentary seats instead of the five which they had asked for.

"I don't think we should be here. All Johor Amanah leaders should not come here," he said, when met at the Pakatan convention at Ideal Convention Centre (IDCC) here Sunday.

A news portal reported that Pakatan had finally reached its consensus for its seat distribution in Peninsular Malaysia during a last-minute meeting on Saturday night (Jan 6).

Of the 165 peninsula seats, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Pribumi) has been allocated 52, PKR, 51, DAP, 35, and Amanah, 27.

PKR will be contesting the highest number of seats, taking into account the seats it will also contest in Sabah and Sarawak.

Earlier, a small group of protesters had gathered in front of IDCC, calling for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to be named the prime minister candidate for the Opposition.

This is amid speculation that Pakatan is set to name Pribumi chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as its choice of prime minister and PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as the deputy premier.

The group, which called themselves as "Reformis 98", chanted "hidup Anwar" (long live Anwar).

They held a banner declaring Anwar and Dr Wan Azizah as their choice for prime minister and deputy prime minister candidates.

A minor scuffle then ensued when an unidentified Amanah delegate approached the group, telling them not to make any provocation. 

To this, one of the protesters, who was wearing a cut-out mask of Anwar, told them that they had been fighting for Anwar to become the seventh prime minister since 1998, the year he was sacked by the then prime minister Dr Mahathir. 

"Well, we have been fighting for this longer than you have," said the Amanah delegate.