Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) has rebutted allegations the party is only interested in making use of Islam for personal gain, saying they would have done so decades ago if that were the case.

"The question of making use of religion does not arise, because our quest is to serve the people through Islam, not for personal gain.

"If it was for personal gain, we wouldn't bother to set up Amanah," said party adviser Ahmad Awang during an event at Restoran Amjal in Kuala Lumpur today.

He was responding to a question on criticisms from certain quarters that Amanah was allegedly only making use of Islam.

"If for personal gain, not now, but (I would have done it) 30 years ago when in the 70s to the 90s," he said, when he was head of several Islamic institutions.

"(But) in the end, I was sidelined because I was considered anti-government," he said.

He said he could easily have sought positions for himself at the time instead of being involved in politics.

He said on the contrary, Amanah was set up to build on the people's trust.

"Whether in the past we were in PAS or now in another outfit, we in Amanah will persevere in Islam," he said.

LGBT advisory council set up

On a related matter, Ahmad said that Amanah will form an advisory council to address social ills, more specifically the issue of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transexual community (LGBT) in the country.

He claimed that the government has failed to handle the matter, and is only focusing on the nation's economy, leaving social problems to fester unabated.

"We live in a country with various major social ills, but the government did not do anything to solve them, focusing only on the economy. Even then they manage the economy so poorly causing people to suffer.

"We will form an advisory council that will focus on LGBTs; council members will seek to advise those involved," he said.

Ahmad's announcement followed the closer working relationship between PAS and Umno of late on matters relating to Islam, including the handling of the LGBT issue.

The move may be seen as another manoeuvre by Amanah as both the party and PAS try to appear more Islamic than the other.

Ahmad ran against PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang in last year's party elections but lost.

The watershed muktamar that saw most of the party's progressives ousted from leadership led to the latter faction quitting the party to form Amanah.