JOHOR BARU, March 2 — Small cracks have started to show within the Johor Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition.

The Ledang division of Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) officially announced today that it has cut ties with its PKR counterpart after last weekend’s crossover of three Amanah assemblymen.

The official announcement was made by Ledang Amanah division chief Azhar Ismail.

“The decision to suspend ties with the Ledang PKR division was made in protest against the act of betrayal by Serom assemblyman Faizul Amri Adnan who left Amanah for PKR, which then accepted him.

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“With that, the Ledang Amanah division has decided to suspend its ties with Ledang PKR effective today, until further notice,” said Azhar in a statement issued to Malay Mail here today.

It is, however, unclear if there will be any cooperation between Ledang Amanah outside of its parliamentary constituency or at the state level.

The action by Ledang Amanah came after it was reported last Saturday that Amanah’s Senggarang assemblyman Khairuddin A. Rahim, Mahkota assemblyman Muhamad Said Jonit and Faizul Amri had left the party to join PKR.

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Faizul Amri belonged to the Ledang Amanah chapter but did not hold any elected post within the party’s division.

Azhar said that Ledang Amanah condemned Faizul Amri’s decision to join PKR and described it as an act of treason to the party that had helped secure his victory in the last general election.

At the same time, he said Ledang Amanah also regretted that PKR accepting Faizul Amri into its ranks.

“This is unethical and lacks common courtesy among fellow Pakatan Harapan (PH) component parties.

“PKR should have advised the Serom assemblyman to remain as an independent assemblyman until the end of his term or when the Johor state legislative assembly is dissolved,” explained Azhar.

On PKR’s acceptance of the three former Amanah members, Azhar accused the main anchor PH component party of taking advantage of the problems within the state Amanah chapter.

“It seems that PKR members took the opportunity to attack Amanah, saying that the party has failed to look after its elected representatives.

“But the situation is far from the truth, as these elected representatives have betrayed and disrespected the party that nominated them as candidates during the 14th general election in 2018.

“It was Amanah that worked hard to campaign for them until they won as elected representatives, and later became part of the previous PH state government,” said Azhar.

Last Saturday, news emerged that Khairuddin, Muhamad Said and Faizul Amri had quit Amanah for PKR over alleged dissatisfaction with their former party’s leadership.

The trio’s defections also led to friction between PKR and Amanah, both in Johor and at the national level.

The latest crossovers bring to five the total number of lawmakers who have gone from Amanah to PKR since last year.

Previously, Amanah lost its Meru assemblyman Mohd Fakhrulrazi Mohd Mokhtar and Sabah assemblyman Ahmad Mustain Othman to its PH partner.