JOHOR BARU, Nov 18 — It is probably safe to say Amanah is no longer living in the shadow of Islamist party PAS.

For one, it has definitely come a long way since its inception as a splinter group from PAS back in 2015.

Fast-forward a few months to after the 14th general election (GE14), and the party is now in an enviable situation, with its leaders occupying senior ministerial posts in government and many wanting to be members.

In Johor, Amanah’s pioneer member Khairuddin A. Rahim said that the state chapter has now recorded more than 10,000 members from 26 divisions state-wide and is targeting a total of about 15,000 for next year, which also coincides with its fourth year as a political party.

"It wasn’t like that in our early days, as it was a struggle to even target our first 3,000 members from the state,” Khairuddin told Malay Mail on the sidelines of the third annual Johor Amanah Convention 2018 in Bandar Baru Uda here on Friday night.

Today, Khairuddin, who is Johor Amanah secretary, said membership in all of the party’s divisions state-wide is steadily increasing.

Despite the positive response, he said party members must always remember that it was not an easy journey, especially in Johor, which was a Umno-Barisan Nasional (BN) stronghold before GE14 on May 9.

"In Johor, people used to view us as a ‘parti yang tak ada masa depan’ (a political party with no future), but now, we are making strides and have two of our state party leaders as senior excos,” said Khairuddin.

The state executive councillors in question are Johor Amanah chairman Aminolhuda Hassan, who heads the state education and religious affairs portfolio, and its deputy chairman, Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad, who heads the state housing and rural development portfolio.

Khairuddin, who is also the Senggarang assemblyman, said the early years for Amanah in Johor were full of challenges as they were akin to a start-up political movement with limited funds and a small support base.

"We were labelled as parti nyamuk (splinter party) by our former comrades in PAS, BN component party members, and also our critics.

"But we found good friends in the state DAP, PKR and later Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM), who supported us throughout our journey in Johor due to our shared goals,” said the 59-year-old former district engineer.

Johor Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) secretary Khairuddin A. Rahim (far right) poses with other party members during the Johor Amanah Convention 2018 in Johor Baru November 17, 2018. To his far left is Johor Amanah chairman Aminolhuda Hassan. — Picture by Ben Tan

Khairuddin, who is also a respected member of the party’s top leadership, is credited with being among the first prime movers who engineered the breakaway from PAS.

A known activist against social injustice, he worked tirelessly behind the scenes to propel Amanah, which started off as Gabungan Harapan Baru (GHB), to join the then new Opposition coalition called Pakatan Harapan (PH) in 2015.

"We knew that support was needed from the more established Opposition parties to strengthen our position in mainstream politics and our decision to be part of PH was a natural move,” said Khairuddin, adding that the party was faced with other challenges at that time, such as the problems with the government after it adopted the Malaysian Workers’ Party as a temporary platform before the name change to Amanah.

PH was a successor to the eight-year-old informal Pakatan Rakyat coalition that ended due to the inability of the rest of the coalition members (DAP and PKR) to work with PAS, after the Islamist party’s congress passed a motion to sever ties with DAP without prior consultation in 2015.

On Johor being its birthplace, Khairuddin acknowledged that Amanah’s history basically started in the southern state.

"It was in Muar, Johor where 118 GHB members nationwide converged for a gathering at the Muar Traders Hotel in June 2015.

"At that time, some of us were still in the parti sejarah (Amanah-speak for PAS), but the gathering led us to form a committee with Mohamad Sabu as chairman and Datuk Salahuddin Ayub as deputy chairman,” said Khairuddin, adding that three months later Amanah was made official on September 16 of that same year.

The earlier GHB was a socio-political movement consisting of progressive PAS members who were called G18 after they were ousted from senior positions at the party’s 2015 congress.

Their ouster paved the way for the conservative faction that helms PAS to this day.

Khairuddin said the next two years saw Amanah working hard at making their presence known nationwide in preparation for GE14.

"In 2017, Amanah became bolder due to growing support nationwide via PH, and was also partly fuelled by PPBM’s entry as the coalition’s newest member led by former national leaders, such as Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is a Johorean.

"Despite our newfound confidence, we never thought that we could defeat BN, especially in Umno’s birthplace of Johor during GE14,” said Khairuddin, adding that political research and polls predicting that PH might not stand a good chance in Johor also put a damper on Amanah’s future there.

Khairuddin said the GE14 results shocked many when they proved otherwise, with PH winning a total of 18 out of 26 parliamentary seats and 36 out of 56 state seats in Johor, signalling the end of the southern state as a BN stronghold.

"The momentum for PH was growing throughout the country during the run-up to GE14. However, we did not expect to take over Johor from BN at that time, but the unexpected happened,” he said.

With a growing membership base and strong network linked to the state and federal administration, Khairuddin never imagined in his wildest dreams that Amanah in Johor would come this far.