Drama in the south is abound as new party MUDA has decided to step its toes on old stalwart PKR in the upcoming Johor state elections. Now, everyone likes a David and Goliath story, especially when it involves a Goliath that has fallen from grace in the public eye such as Anwar Ibrahim (most due to his repeated promises to take over the government). 
But one can’t help but feel like MUDA has taken the opportunity to antagonize its “allies” at every turn.
Despite its idealist beginnings, there is little doubt that the party has been mired in problems of its own choosing.
From its unusually close ties to politically linked tycoons to its recent backlash after they had released a poster urging a stop to corruption whilst also implying that other political parties and coalitions such as BN, PH, PKR and PN are all involved in the practice.
The post has since been deleted, but social media users were quick to slam the party for the posting in the first place, especially as it was also recently announced that MUDA had been given the blessing of two PH parties to contest for 6 seats in the upcoming Johor elections.
My way or the highway seems to be the operative word for the new party.
But it seems that its “spirit” is also paired with a sense of hesitancy, seen in its reluctance to compete in seats that are non-opposition aligned.
For a party that screams “lawan” from the high heavens – it is odd that MUDA is making a fuss in its now collapse seat negotiations with PKR, even threatening to contest PKR seats in what seems to be out of pure spite.
In another viral incident, Syed Saddiq was forced to apologize for undermining the work of the PKR elected representative in the Tiram seat in a now deleted Facebook posting.
The post detailed that the Indian community in Ulu Tiram was unhappy with the elected representative there, and he accused the assemblyman of not looking after the people’s welfare, and of being irresponsible. He said the people there were sick of this and wanted change.
In response and in “apology”, Syed Saddiq admitted his mistake in having undermined the work and responsibilities of S Gopalakrishnan, whom he described as his PKR “comrade”. Gopalakrishnan was elected to the Tiram seat in the 2018 general election.
Syed Saddiq said his visit to Ulu Tiram, to learn more about taking care of the rakyat, had been part of Muda’s learning process.
He said his party was not perfect and neither was he, as MP for Muar.
“In the spirit of togetherness with my friends from PKR, I apologise for my mistake,” he wrote. “In the Muar parliamentary constituency, I haven’t been perfect either. There are many other tasks and responsibilities that I still need to fulfil.”
Such random u-turns aren’t foreign to Saddiq – after all, his most famous u-turn would have been the Zakir Naik incident.
Unfortunately, we see the same patterns with his new party MUDA. Despite having established themselves for months now, with many Malaysians signing up as members, the fledgeling party has no concrete policy plans and core principles to speak of. Worse still, no organisational structure has been announced – leaving many to wonder if it will just turn into an NGO at the end of the day.
It is time for Malaysians to put a stop to this. While his impacts are still limited today, Syed Saddiq – if given free rein to be the political chameleon that he is – may evolve one day into a gifted demagogue that may put many Malaysians worse off than where they started. Let’s deny him the opportunity.
Despite its idealist beginnings, there is little doubt that the party has been mired in problems of its own choosing.
From its unusually close ties to politically linked tycoons to its recent backlash after they had released a poster urging a stop to corruption whilst also implying that other political parties and coalitions such as BN, PH, PKR and PN are all involved in the practice.
The post has since been deleted, but social media users were quick to slam the party for the posting in the first place, especially as it was also recently announced that MUDA had been given the blessing of two PH parties to contest for 6 seats in the upcoming Johor elections.
My way or the highway seems to be the operative word for the new party.
But it seems that its “spirit” is also paired with a sense of hesitancy, seen in its reluctance to compete in seats that are non-opposition aligned.
For a party that screams “lawan” from the high heavens – it is odd that MUDA is making a fuss in its now collapse seat negotiations with PKR, even threatening to contest PKR seats in what seems to be out of pure spite.
In another viral incident, Syed Saddiq was forced to apologize for undermining the work of the PKR elected representative in the Tiram seat in a now deleted Facebook posting.
The post detailed that the Indian community in Ulu Tiram was unhappy with the elected representative there, and he accused the assemblyman of not looking after the people’s welfare, and of being irresponsible. He said the people there were sick of this and wanted change.
In response and in “apology”, Syed Saddiq admitted his mistake in having undermined the work and responsibilities of S Gopalakrishnan, whom he described as his PKR “comrade”. Gopalakrishnan was elected to the Tiram seat in the 2018 general election.
He said his party was not perfect and neither was he, as MP for Muar.
“In the spirit of togetherness with my friends from PKR, I apologise for my mistake,” he wrote. “In the Muar parliamentary constituency, I haven’t been perfect either. There are many other tasks and responsibilities that I still need to fulfil.”
Such random u-turns aren’t foreign to Saddiq – after all, his most famous u-turn would have been the Zakir Naik incident.
Unfortunately, we see the same patterns with his new party MUDA. Despite having established themselves for months now, with many Malaysians signing up as members, the fledgeling party has no concrete policy plans and core principles to speak of. Worse still, no organisational structure has been announced – leaving many to wonder if it will just turn into an NGO at the end of the day.
It is time for Malaysians to put a stop to this. While his impacts are still limited today, Syed Saddiq – if given free rein to be the political chameleon that he is – may evolve one day into a gifted demagogue that may put many Malaysians worse off than where they started. Let’s deny him the opportunity.
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