Wawasan takes Parti Cinta Malaysia to new level, says Huan

PETALING JAYA: Parti Wawasan Negara is a rebranded version of the Penang-based Parti Cinta Malaysia, says PCM’s co-founder Huan Cheng Guan, with the transition agreed upon months ago and not involving any financial transaction.

Huan, who co-founded PCM in 2009 and is now one of Wawasan’s vice-presidents, said the takeover by Hamzah Zainudin and his allies had received unanimous backing from the party’s senior leadership.

“No payment was made. I’m still in the party as a vice-president, and I will also be active in Penang,” he told FMT.

Huan said the rebrand was driven by PCM’s inability to gain political traction despite being around for 16 years.

“We could not make any breakthrough. We did not even have a representative (in Parliament or a state assembly), so we thought we should rebrand it and make it different,” he said.

He said the transformation had immediately elevated the party’s standing, noting that it will soon have 19 MPs and five assemblymen.

Currently, Wawasan officially has six MPs. Thirteen other Hamzah-aligned elected representatives are still with Bersatu but suspended.

Huan said the existing PCM members would eventually be absorbed into the party’s state and division-level structures, with priority currently being given to accommodating the new parliamentary and state leadership.

He also said the party had completed an extraordinary general meeting on Saturday and was in the process of notifying the Registrar of Societies of its name change.

Wawasan unveiled its new central leadership following the meeting, with former Bersatu deputy president Hamzah appointed as its president.

Other Bersatu leaders who were recently sacked from the party, including Wan Saiful Wan Jan, Saifuddin Abdullah and Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal, also joined the new lineup.

The party appointed veteran politician Rais Yatim as its chairman.

Hamzah previously said questions over Wawasan’s legitimacy should not arise because it had merely taken over an existing party and changed its name.