KUALA LUMPUR – Youth-based party Muda has slammed the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition for fielding “political frogs” and prioritising power, as well as electoral seats, instead of holding on to their principles, said Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.
The party founder told a press conference today that previously, his party had been in discussions with PH over the possibility for Muda to be contesting in the Melaka polls, but decided to pull out when the coalition’s leadership decided to field Datuk Seri Idris Haron and his followers.
“For nearly two weeks, Muda has been discussing with PH to form a united opposition front in the state election. Unfortunately, PH decided in the end to field and prioritise the political frogs that triggered the fall of the Melaka administration.
“Muda rejects the politics of frogs (party hopping), undignified politics, and politics without principles that have caused problems for the public, which have led to the waste of RM42 million (of taxpayer money) for a state election amidst the pandemic.
“Muda has made the decision not to be together with PH for this state election because we do not want to carry that brand of undignified politics without any values. We have taken the decision to sit out this election. We don’t want to prioritise seats over principles.
“We want to carry politics based on values and policies, not political frogs,” he said, harshly criticising the opposition coalition.
The Muar MP called for Melaka folk to reject “politics without value” that have demeaned their rights as voters during the 14th general election in 2018.
The state assembly was dissolved by Governor Tun Mohd Ali Mohd Rustam on October 5 after Datuk Seri Sulaiman Md Ali lost majority support as chief minister (CM).
This followed the withdrawal of support of four assemblymen – ex-Umno duo Idris and Datuk Nor Azman Hassan, Datuk Norhizam Hassan Baktee (independent), and Datuk Noor Effandi Ahmad (formerly of Bersatu).
Syed Saddiq questioned what sort of guarantee his PH allies have to ensure that “political frogs” would not jump ship once victory for the state has been secured.
“Honestly, we didn’t expect that priority was given to the frogs. If we look closely, these frogs did not jump because of principles or values, but because of power. They agreed to jump when someone was promised the CM post.”
He pointed out that if the CM position was not there, Idris and his group might not have left the state administration.
“In fact, even at the end of the last state assembly session, they still defended Umno – but when opportunity arose and someone gets to be the CM, everyone signed a statutory declaration backing Idris.
“If they (Idris’ faction) can do this (backstab Umno), what is the guarantee that they wont jump again after the state election? We’ve been backstabbed before, we don’t want to be backstabbed again,” said Syed Saddiq.
Furthermore, he noted the hypocrisy over the opposition party’s willingness to adopt an anti-hopping law at the national level in Parliament, but who can easily absorb a party hopper within its ranks whenever it suits them.
Just an hour before Syed Saddiq’s press conference, opposition chief and PH presidential council member Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had announced the group’s candidate list for the state election.
Idris – who is the Sg Udang incumbent – will be running for the Asahan seat under the PH banner as a PKR rep, while Pantai Kundor incumbent Nor Azman will defend his seat under PH as an Amanah member. – The Vibes, November 6, 2021
