Call for political truce good, but Muda needs more clout, says analyst

 

An analyst says Muda needs ‘other icons with personal auras’ than just Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman.

PETALING JAYA: The failure of Muda’s call for a political ceasefire has prompted an analyst to comment that the new party needs more iconic personalities than just its leader, Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman.

Azmi Hassan of Universiti Teknology Malaysia told FMT he regarded Syed Saddiq as a “sort of newbie” on Malaysia’s political scene and he believed the party needed “other icons with personal auras” to make any call by it seem less pretentious and presumptuous.

Muda’s campaign, called PauseMalaysia, has failed to gain traction among Syed Saddiq’s former colleagues in Pakatan Harapan. PKR Youth chief Akmal Nasir and former PPBM Supreme Council member Ulya Aqamah Husamudin are among those opposing it.

The campaign is for a truce among all political parties. It calls on politicians to put aside their differences and work together for the people’s welfare, and urges against a general election and any power grab while Malaysia is fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.

Azmi Hassan.

Azmi acknowledged the good intention behind the call, but added: “The party, being very new and without political clout, is disconnected in terms of realistic expectation.”

James Chin of the University of Tasmania’s Asia Institute said Muda’s campaign came at the wrong time since senior figures in the opposition were gearing up for PKR president Anwar Ibrahim’s challenge for the prime minister post.

“Even if there was no challenge from Anwar right now, I don’t think people want to pause.” he told FMT. “The way politics is, with the institutional structures in place, there’s no such thing as pausing.”

James Chin.

However, he believed that Syed Saddiq was genuine in wanting to project himself as a leader for young voters.

“A lot of mainstream political parties talk about the importance of youth in Malaysia’s system, but at the end of the day, it’s always the old men who get elected, not the young people,” he said.

Chin added that Muda was a good initiative as Malaysian youths needed a head start in trying to bring change to the nation’s political system. - FMT