Syed Saddiq: State polls start of Muda’s ‘new politics’ journey

 

INTERVIEW | Muda set the political arena abuzz when it announced its decision to “break up” with Pakatan Harapan and go solo into the looming state elections.

The decision courted brickbats, with some critics calling it “overhasty”, while several political observers dubbed the move - which would pit the youth party against three major coalitions - as a “suicide mission”.

However, Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman told Malaysiakini that his fledgling party was entering the battle ring with a realistic mindset and will not be aiming for the sky, yet.

Acknowledging that Muda is underfunded and under-experienced, Syed Saddiq (above) said his political outfit’s solo entrance into the state polls would get the ball rolling on its long journey to be recognised as an established party as well as usher in “new politics”.

“It’s a Herculean task to go solo because Muda is the ‘underdog of the underdogs’.

“We do not have intentions to contest in all 245 seats, in fact even less than 10 percent of the overall seats.

“It will be a good opportunity for Muda to bring in ‘new politics’ and we must start early. Even if it takes us 20 years to achieve this goal, we will work the ground,” he said in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.

David against Goliath

While noting that every challenge comes with a price, he said the question of Muda losing its deposit for contesting on its own in the state elections was not an issue.

The Muar MP had, instead, trained his sight on the long run - to strengthen the youth-centric party in order to put forth its vision to develop the nation.

“It is David against Goliath, it’s the ant against the elephant. We acknowledge that many analysts have said that we will fail miserably.

“But this is to train our leaders and to build strength so that in the next 10 to 20 years, when we are finally given the chance, we can shake up Malaysia to bring in ‘new politics’. It will take time,” he said.

He added that this will also allow Muda to not rely on political patronage to get support, but rather on its ideas and ideologies.

“In terms of winning or losing and what our fate will be, that is the will of God and the will of the people. We will accept it,” he said.

Muda had previously formed an electoral pact with Harapan in the 15th general election and took on tough seats such as Tanjung Karang, Tanjung Piai, and Kota Marudu.

However, out of six parliamentary candidates, Syed Saddiq was the sole MP to be elected from the party after he retained his Muar seat.

Following the formation of the government, Muda became part of the government’s backbench - but found itself sidelined from coalition government meetings.

Its attempts to join Harapan were also met with silence.

After Muda announced it was going solo, PKR Youth chief Adam Adli Abdul Halim challenged the party to state where it stands within the government and if Muda no longer supports the administration, it can cross over to the opposition bloc.

Tired of political games

In response to Adam’s remarks, Syed Saddiq said the “outdated” local political landscape needs to be switched off as the people have no interest in it and are tired of hearing about political games.

He added that Muda is the people’s aspiration and should be allowed to contest in a healthy and democratic manner.

“You are already in Putrajaya (in the government) and that is important. Let’s not compete to degrade Malaysia or be the ‘lesser of the evils’. That’s not the kind of politics I want to bring.

“The people remember issues pertaining to the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), fighting against the centralisation of power, reforms, and fair allocations for both government and opposition MPs.

“Now the MP allocations for the opposition is zero. Isn’t it hypocritical when we fought against this when we were in the opposition and were discriminated against?” he asked.

Voice of conscience

Elaborating on the matter, the former youth and sports minister said Muda’s first task in introducing a new political reality in the country is to be the voice of conscience for the people.

Therefore, he said Muda is determined to play the role of check and balance as he opined that the opposition coalition Perikatan Nasional (PN) has not been rising to the occasion.

“We want to be the loudest and strongest check and balance to the government of the day, to ensure the people’s interests are never side-lined.

“I want to ensure that the debates in the Parliament will be about the most important issues. What reforms do we want to bring?

“For instance, we want to ensure that the allocations (given to MPs) are fair, regardless of whether they are in the government or opposition.

“We also want to reduce the centralisation of power, and we want to make sure that appointments are made based on merit, not through political contacts.” - Mkini