Needed or not, Muda will always reach for progressive values

 We don’t know where the political current will head, nor can we control what other people may decide or act upon. But if you don’t reach out you will never get an answer.

From Zaidel Baharuddin

One thing that I find in politics is that opinions and advice can be found in abundance: people seem to love giving it out rather liberally. That’s not necessarily a bad thing – getting feedback can help one navigate or make a more informed decision especially in politics; however, the key is to know which to keep, and which to let slide.

Anyone who has been in a generic pseudo-political WhatsApp chat group can see this firsthand, in the form of forwarded messages, long rants and, if you are lucky enough, witnessing a random snarky political remark made by that relative who feels the utmost urgency to share their thoughts on politics in a family reunion group chat.

Based on my limited experience, what is rare in politics are people who will get up and do something about the things they feel passionate about.

On the campaign trail, it is common to hear the phrase “You know what you guys should do!”. But rare are the folk who show up and say: “So what can I do?” Note the difference between the exclamation mark and question mark.

An opinion piece recently raised the question of whether my party Muda is needed or is even worthy of consideration for collaboration. So, in the spirit of sharing thoughts and opinions out loud, here is my response.

We in Muda had to pay a steep price when we took the difficult decision to leave the Madani government coalition because of our unhappiness with the pace of reforms and the reluctance of Cabinet ministers to enact institutional changes.

Leaving wasn’t the fashionable thing to do, it was frowned upon. We didn’t have the luxury of looking back in hindsight after the outcome of PKR’s party elections, only the idea that it was pointless being in the government coalition if you can’t influence change.

The backlash was heavy, various nicknames were dished out, but we believe that we had to do what we had to do.

Being in the political wilderness is an uncomfortable experience, but one does not learn things in comfort. We learnt that there are nuances between the two grand coalitions. We learnt that, like it or not, while on the opposition bench you need to talk to everyone, even with people you may not agree with.

Fighting for common cause

We have to work to ensure that our MP secures a speaking slot in Dewan Rakyat debates, or that our questions get queued alongside those from the opposition benches, and try to convince other parties to fight for common issues.

We also learned that there are other like-minded people who have progressive values, especially coming from the OG of the third force, comrades from Parti Sosialis Malaysia, whose ideals and consistency in fighting for workers perseveres over the years.

Dynamics change, sentiment fluctuates but goals and objectives remain the same, just as the idea of putting Pakatan Harapan and Madani’s promises for reforms to task remains the same, then and now, though sentiments shift rather dramatically these days.

We don’t know where the political current will head, neither can we control what other people may decide or act upon. But we do know that Malaysia needs institutional reforms and more progressive policies and values. We know that if you don’t reach out you will never get an answer.

So, whether Muda is needed or whether we will be of relevance in the near future remains of secondary importance.

What we do know is that we will keep on trying, even when it seems unfashionable to do so, as we have done before. Because in this day and age, while we could always use a better government, what Malaysia really needs now is a competent opposition.

Progressive values and good policies are worth fighting for. Common issues should cut across petty partisan differences, and if the price for that bridge is some bruises to our ego, so be it, it’s not worth much anyway. Whether pundits think we are needed or if we are even worth the salt, we will take note of those opinions.

We can’t control other people’s opinions nor their actions, but we can control ours, and we opine that for good policies, progressive values and common good, Muda will always reach out, regardless. - FMT

Zaidel Baharuddin is the deputy president of Muda.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.