BANGI, April 14 — Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) president Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman said that his party has continued its application to join Pakatan Harapan (PH) — a stance that it still maintains although it has not been invited to seat negotiations for the state elections.
Speaking to Malay Mail after an event at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) last night, the Muar MP also said that there “has never been a discussion” about the party joining Perikatan National (PN), denying a rumour after Muda was repeatedly rebuffed by PH.
“We have sent four letters to our friends in the leadership of PH, and are now waiting for a response,” he said, adding that the latest application to join PH was sent last month.
Last month, PH secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said he had yet to read Muda's letter on its application to join the coalition since the formation of the unity government as "his ministerial duties have kept him occupied".
When asked by reporters how many seats have been allocated to Muda by PH for the upcoming elections, Syed Saddiq said that Muda had not been invited to any seat negotiations with the coalition so far.
“Internally, within Muda, the leadership has had discussions for the Selangor state election.
“When the time comes we will announce our stance, but we want to give space to PH and its presidential council to respond so that we can make a good joint decision to take care of the harmony of the current unity government,” he said.
On March 20, Muda secretary-general Amir Abd Hadi said that his party had been excluded from the unity government secretariat's meeting for the second time, following a meeting held the previous day.
Muda had previously expressed disappointment at not being invited to the first meeting held on February 7.
Last month, Saifuddin also said others that are part of the national unity government coalition would be asked to join future secretariat meetings
He added he was aware of Muda’s complaints about being omitted from these, and would ensure it was formally invited in the future.
Saifuddin said PH and Muda were on good terms, but the latter was not yet an official member.
