LABUAN, Sept 17 — A total of 700 former members of Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) here have joined the Labuan Umno division en bloc, in a move described as a continuation of their political struggle for the Malays.

Former Labuan Amanah division chief, Chemat Mustapha led the group in submitting their application forms to Barisan Nasional (BN) secretary-general, Tan Sri Annuar Musa and Labuan Umno head, Datuk Bashir Alias, who is also Labuan BN chief, at a hotel here, today.

Annuar said Umno had taken the approach of welcoming its former members or members of any political party to join Umno.

“However, our greater challenge now is to unify the Malay community and Muslims without impacting others, as unity is crucial for political stability in the country.

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“Umno is a political party representing purely Malay interests and responsible to protect national harmony and political stability. Therefore, Umno opens its doors to anyone keen to join the party,” he told reporters after receiving the membership application forms.

Meanwhile, Chemat said the mass cross-over to Umno had long been thought about and discussed by the committee members of 25 branches under Labuan Amanah.

“We have to be thankful to Tan Sri Annuar and Datuk Bashir for accepting us. We feel that Umno is the right party to unite the Malays in Labuan and the motto of ‘Demi Bangsa dan Negara’ will continue to be the guiding principle in our political struggle,” he said. — Bernama

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