Johor Amanah is not so ‘amanah’, says Johor PAS

(The Rakyat Post) – Johor PAS has accused the state’s Amanah of being untrustworthy for intending to take over the Islamist party’s headquarters in two areas.

Johor PAS Commissioner Datuk Dr Mahfodz Mohamed, in an interview with Sinar Harian, said that according to Islamic law, ownership of a building dedicated to a party becomes its own even if the original owner jumped to another party.

“The building or land donated to PAS no longer belongs to an individual, it now belongs to the community as it was built through contributions from the public.

“It is not fair for the ownership to change even when the owner has jumped ship. In terms of the law, the move is not right, it is untrustworthy. If he leaves PAS, there will be another to take over his place,” the Malay daily quoted Mahfodz as saying.

Mahfodz, who is also the Ulama Council chairman, added that the party would seek legal advice to finalise the matter and, if necessary, take legal action.

“This property is not a matrimonial asset as it was originally contributed to PAS although they did receive a letter from the Commissioner of Oath, but from perspective of the Islamic law, it is rightfully PAS’,” he said.

Johor Amanah deputy chairman Dzulkefly Ahmad, on the other hand, denied the claim and said that they were merely taking over the building which was donated back to Amanah.

“What actually happened in Pontian was that the building was previously used as a PAS headquarters, but the owner had now re-donated the building to Amanah.

“We have no intention to seize the building and instead, will make it a place where both PAS and Amanah can fully utilise.”

Dzulkefly said the party had also formed an Asset Management Committee comprising lawyers and property consultants to address issues involving joint matrimonial assets with PAS Johor.

“PAS needs to be more open, it is not fair to accuse us of hijacking and portraying us as a despotic party.

“In fact, we only received two buildings, which are in Pontian and Bakri, where the owners donated the buildings back to Amanah.”