Stop Falling For The Side-show That Is Syed Saddiq

The Melaka state elections are running up to be one of the most exciting sideshows in politics in recent decades, as we see the culmination of a years-long rivalry between Bersatu and PPBM come to ahead in 3 way battles for control of the state. The drama doesn’t quite end there as we continue to see PH struggle with its ideas of a principled coalition – as DAP and PKR/PAN argue over the viability of taking the Melaka 4 as candidates.

Not to be left out, MUDA and Syed Saddiq rallied their large online support bases to entertain the idea that they would be collaborating with Pakatan in their election debut. However after weeks of anticipation and moralizing, it turns out MUDA would be backing out of the race, all due to Pakatan’s insistence to field the Melaka 4.

This led to handwringing from Saddiq particularly, who said that he could not stomach working with frogs – but where was this nobility back in Pakatan?

Unless he wants us to forget that he was part of Bersatu? The original home for political frogs from UMNO.

The party had an uneasy relationship with its former Pakatan partners – jumping from the measly 13 it saw in GE14 to the 31 we see today, 6 of which occurred during Saddiq’s time as Youth Minister.

Where was the brouhaha then?

Through his Facebook and Instagram livestreams, he rants and raves that he is the future of Malaysia and that he needs more time to build a new Malaysia.

But what Malaysians need to realize is that he has done little to prove that is something worth banking on, unless you base your metrics are what might benefit Syed Saddiq politically.

To his credit, Syed Saddiq’s achievement of pushing a constitutional amendment in Dewan Rakyat on the 16th of July 2019 is something that all Malaysians can be proud of. True to his word as youth orientated minister, he is not only the first politician to successfully push through a constitutional amendment since 2009, but also the first person to do so with a government that does not have a 2/3 majority in Parliament.

He has shown Malaysians that bipartisan cooperation is very well possible in Malaysia Baru and that the future of Malaysian youth is in good hands. But he is nothing but a sheep in wolves clothing.

He recently criticized the business model of private universities, calling them as shams for providing them with sub-par education and PTPTN debts. This is far cry from the almost rancorous calls for the complete abolishment of the PTPTN loans during the GE15 campaigning period.

Yet it didn’t even take a month before Saddiq backtracked on his previous stance – calling for National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) borrowers who have the means to repay their loans despite earning less than RM4,000 a month must be responsible by settling their debts.

Only after public outcry and a long winter of attacks against his reputations, did he find it politically expedient to defend National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) loan defaulters, saying no to blacklisting PTPTN loan participants.

Even fundamental values such as freedom of speech can be threatened, amusingly by even Syed Saddiq himself.

There were little things such controversy over a KBS circular that threatened a Perdana Fellow under his watch for openly criticising his management of Bersatu’s Youth Wing.

This is surprising given that had long expressed the need for freedom of speech and expression prior to Pakatan’s win in 2018 and this kind of scare tactics were the same things that he had spoken out against during the election campaign.

Syed Saddiq himself never delivered on his sports portfolio, especially regarding the direction of how Malaysian football will continue to develop in this pivotal time for the NFDP.

We were in an exciting moment for the newly rejuvenated Malaysian football scene - and it will be up to Syed Saddiq to ensure that our young players can make the best.

The foundation had been set, thanks to the efforts of private clubs that pride themselves on independence but Saddiq never had the time surprisingly to capitalize and emulate these efforts on the national level.

As it stands Syed Saddiq can rant and rave all he wants regarding his principals on social media – but his record still stands and he falls far below any metric that MUDA can set him to.

He is a proven orator and proven to be less than principled than one imagines.

Comments