COMMENTARY, Feb 4 ― Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and friends need not be in a hurry or feel disappointed over the dismissal of their judicial review bid on the Registrar of Societies’ (RoS) rejection of Muda's registration.
Their party ― Malaysia United Democratic Alliance (Muda) ― still has time to be registered and be ready for the general election after the 15th general election.
Syed Saddiq’s idealism in creating a multi-racial young Malaysian party can take off after the coming general election because the present political field and landscape is saturated and probably too “stale” for young voters to swallow.
The idea of a multi-racial comprising young Malaysian party is something the young voters are probably looking for, given the current political climate that is more individually centred rather than philosophy and ideology based.
Undi-18 voters may not “blend” into the present partisan politics where philosophies and ideologies are racial and religious-based and where the majority of the candidates are above 45-years-old.
They are picked by individual party leaders as they are groomed from within the party and follow the party line, which is all the leaders, who are their “mentors” who pave the way for them to climb up the party ladder, want.
The method is similar to cadreship, but some candidates are parachuted in as they have made their names and were recognized as leaders from NGOs, other associations or societies.
Leaders of parties may pick several such individuals to contest under their parties’ flags, with the reason being to inject young blood into the leadership, which is the practice by all the parties since the 60s.
Syed Saddiq’s creation of Muda, after “ganging up” with Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) under Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and following the former prime minister into the political wilderness for a very short while in March last year, is probably an afterthought from his experience.
The political “turbulence” following Dr Mahathir’s sudden “retirement”, which led to the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government at end of February last year, created a fertile ground to abandon racial and religious political philosophies and ideologies that can lead to a birth of multi-racial political comprising young Malaysians.
Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) started off with such idealism but sadly the party has become a struggle that centres on one person, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Moreover, the party started off as a struggle for reform but now it no longer holds on to that slogan.
Unlike former Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin who continued his political path in Umno, Syed Saddique seems to be making good inroads into the minds of young voters who are coming into the political field in June.
His first laptop project for students in Muar two months ago received good response, an incentive that saw many young voters supporting.
Individually, as a person, Syed Saddiq is yet to reach the level of political heavyweights such as Khairy. His initiative in setting up Muda may find some space in future Malaysia’s political landscape, which is after the 15th general election.
Undi-18 youngsters who are young, aggressive and have their own political views and opinions may find in Muda an avenue to rid the country of “political dinosaurs”.
These youngsters, despite their parents’ political inclinations, may just go “out of their parents mental box” to give the country’s political scenario a new look and perspective.
Given such a background and scenario, Syed Saddiq and friends should continue to work with their idealism, which may not be long. Get ready and prepared for the 16th general election.
