JOHOR BARU, July 27 — The Pasir Gudang division of Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) said it has rejected the membership application of former Permas assemblyman Datuk Seri Che Zakaria Mohd Salleh, in defiance of the party’s senior leadership.

It was learnt that application of the former Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) lawmaker was sent to the Amanah division in Pasir Gudang, where he was a resident, on Saturday.

Division chief Syed Othman Syed Abdullah said an emergency meeting convened the same night ended in a unanimous decision to reject the application on grounds that Che Zakaria was seen as a "political frog”.

"The decision is final. We reject traitors... thank you to the AJK (division committee members),” said Syed Othman on his official Facebook page today.

He was referring to Che Zakaria’s alleged conduct with Bersatu during the so-called Sheraton Move in February 2020 that caused the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan governments in Putrajaya and several states.

Che Zakaria was rumoured to have quit Bersatu just before the Johor state election in March and was later seen during a Parti Warisan (Warisan) campaign event in Permas Jaya.

When contacted, Syed Othman also questioned the party’s top leadership for accepting Che Zakaria’s membership application without referring him to a division.

He explained that under normal circumstances, an Amanah division would be the initial point for membership applications.

"The applications would later be forwarded to the state level for vetting and approval.

"However, in Che Zakaria’s case, it is the other way as he is said to have handed his application to Johor Amanah, which then forwarded it to us.

"For us, we (Pasir Gudang Amanah division) have made our stand very clear on this matter and we do not want Che Zakaria to be part of us,” said Syed Othman.

Syed Othman said the division has already told the party leadership why it was rejecting Che Zakaria’s application and Johor Amanah was free to send him to a division that would accept him.

Last Saturday, Che Zakaria announced he was leaving Bersatu for Amanah.

His announcement was made after the Johor Amanah Convention 2022 where his membership application form was accepted by the party’s deputy president, Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub.

Che Zakaria said the decision was taken without coercion from anyone and was made carefully after five months of deep thought on which party he wanted to join.