IPOH, March 3 — Pakatan Harapan (PH) has to work harder to ensure the people to continue to stay with the party especially after its defeat in the Semenyih state by-election yesterday, said its Youth chief Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.

He said the defeat in the state by-election should not cause the party to point fingers or put the blame on others.

‘This is not the time to blame anyone, we all need to do self-reflection as all have roles to play. We need to improve, including myself, Armada (youth wing of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia) and Harapan Youth. I think it’s back to the drawing board.

"We need to look and move forward. We need to work as usual. We congratulate the Barisan Nasional (BN) and to thank all the PH and Harapan Youth machinery who were active during the by-election,” he said.

He said this at a press conference after delivering a keynote address entitled Grassroot VS Rest of the World, on the final day of the Esports Professional Industry Conference 2019 at the Casuarina @ Meru Convention Centre here today.

Syed Saddiq, who is also Armada chief, accepted the defeat of PH candidate Muhammad Aiman Zainali and viewed the result as the people’s choice.

"PH needs to do self-reflection and to continue going forward, apart from respecting people’s choices. To the people of Semenyih, I would like to apologise if I have made any mistake,” he said.

However, Syed Saddiq, who is also Youth and Sports Minister, said in any situation, the government must continue to serve the people.

The Semenyih state by-election yesterday witnessed BN wrested the seat when its candidate, Zakaria Hanafi won the four-cornered fight with 1,914-vote majority.

Zakaria secured 19,780 votes, defeated Muhammad Aiman (17,866 votes); Nik Aziz Afiq Abdul, from Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) (847 votes) and independent candidate who is also a community activist, Kuan Chee Heng (725 votes). — Bernama