KUALA LUMPUR – On September 17, former youth and sports minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, formally submitted the application to register his much-hyped new political party, Muda, at the Registrar of Societies (RoS).
Muda is an acronym for Malaysian United Democratic Alliance.
“Muda will be led by youth from all walks of life,” he said, adding that Muda currently has 13 sponsors and its organisational structure will be announced soon.
Previously, a meeting between students from various youth groups and Muda members raised doubts about the new political movement.
Questions concerning how the party is being formed, its direction, and its narrative were the focus of the meeting, which was held in a hall above Restoran Amjal, near Universiti Malaya here.
One of the people involved in the party’s formation, Amir Hadi and Syed Saddiq gave their assurances that the concerns raised by the youth groups would be addressed.
Who are the 30 founding members?
The meeting in Restoran Amjal was organised by youth groups made up of students from educational institutions scattered across the Klang Valley.
“The main objective is to determine the direction of the new youth-based party, and students were also curious to know who is behind the building of the party,” Daniel Mizan Qayyum, the founder of Demokrat UM told The Vibes.
An unofficial list of 30 people related to the party, which recently went viral on Twitter, drew a significant bulk of the questions from the students.
“There was a call for transparency as to who these 30 people were,” M. Jay Raj, President of Enlight Malaysia told The Vibes.
Cikgu Ayu, who is understood to be a founder of Buku Jalanan Chow Kit, is also involved in the formation of Muda. She attempted to address the questions concerning the 30 names, saying the initial people were merely “kickstarters”.
Nevertheless, the students remained concerned as to how the 30 were chosen.
“Given who the 30 people are, it is unsure whether the party will be inclusive towards university students,” Daniel said.
A Syed Saddiq party or a youth-party?
The ideology of the party also drew heated debate. Is this youth party left-leaning, right-leaning, or a centrist?
In late August, Syed Saddiq suggested to the media that his idea of a youth party was inspired by Thailand’s Future Forward Party and French President Emmanuel Macron’s En Marche, both centre-left and centrist.
Cikgu Ayu said the party didn’t want to be labelled as left or right, but one that was moving forward, which drew scoffs from the attending students.
Later in the meeting, Amir and Cikgu Ayu said the party’s policies were not yet formed, but five critical areas of concern were identified – the environment, employment, education, equity and youth empowerment.
However, a member of one of the youth groups said it was not enough, as the students wanted to know detailed policies with regards to those five topics.
“We are not convinced by this youth party. We don’t have an answer regarding their ideologies, direction, and objective,” Daniel said.
In addition to concerns about the potential party’s ideology, questions also arose as to the narrative of the party – is it a youth party or a Syed Saddiq party?
“The media narrative on this movement seems to be that it is a Syed Saddiq party as opposed to a youth-based party.
“This has to change because the other members involved in the formation of this party seem to be doing good work with regards to going to the ground and engaging with people, they could use more media airtime,” M. Jay Raj said.
From the ground up
Responding to concerns raised by students, Syed Saddiq and Amir said that the party has yet to be fully formed and the initial members were in the process of holding engagement sessions with various groups.
“With regards to the 30 people, the party hasn’t even been founded yet. That is why we are doing these engagement sessions.
“Not all of the 30 people will be forming the party. After we have formed the party, we will have another tour around the country to find and groom young people for leadership,” Syed Saddiq said.
As for policies, Muda intends to get public feedback during their engagements sessions first.
“We are yet to endorse any policy as the policies should be made together.
“Yes, we have gone to the ground already and gotten feedback on the formation of the party only, after this we have to go again to get feedback for policy and issues affecting them,” Amir added.
Syed Saddiq said he could not form policies alone, as this is not his party but a party for the people.
“I hope that the other members will get more airtime in the media, that’s why I have been introducing and promoting them in the public sphere.” – The Vibes, October 1, 2020
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