PUTRAJAYA – Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman should remember that he did not win the Muar parliamentary seat in the 2022 general election “on his own merit”, said DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke as ties fray between the two parties.
“Let me remind Syed Saddiq that he won (Muar) because of the (political) understanding with Pakatan Harapan. He did not win Muar on his own merit – he won because there was an understanding with PH.
“We did not put our candidate there and DAP supported him being the candidate. We campaigned for him. It was not a victory per se for Muda,” said Loke during a press conference here at the sidelines of DAP’s annual conference.
He added that Syed Saddiq contested as part of the PH bloc even though the Muar MP did not run under the PH ticket.
“Syed Saddiq has an obligation to ensure that the votes he received (during the election) go to supporting the current unity government. So, I just want to remind him that he has responsibility too as his win was because of PH voters and support.”
Muda has been slammed for labelling PH component DAP “Zahid’s lapdog” following his criticism stemming from the discontinuation of Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s corruption trial.
This came after Local Government Development Minister Nga Kor Ming, who is also DAP vice-chairman, suggested that Syed Saddiq should refrain from publicly airing his discontent over the discontinuation of Zahid’s trial.
Nga said the matter could have instead been discussed internally among the unity government’s top leaders as a face-to-face discussion would be more professional than making public statements.
Nga’s rebuke came after Muda issued an ultimatum and threatened to pull its support from the unity government in response to deputy prime minister Zahid being granted a discharge without an acquittal for his 47 corruption charges.
Muda secretary-general Amira Aisya Abd Aziz then said Muda leaders and council members unanimously agreed in a recent meeting that the government’s decision indicated a departure from its previous commitment to combat corruption.
Syed Saddiq secured the Muar parliamentary seat during GE15 while the Johor polls Amira Aisya won the Puteri Wangsa.
He won Muar with a 1,345-vote majority after polling 19,961 votes, while Perikatan Nasional’s Abdullah Husin received 18,616, followed by BN’s Mohd Helmy Abd Latiff (14,581).
The Muar electorate consists of Malays (67.2%), Chinese (32.3%), Indians (0.3%) and those of other ethnicities (0.3%).
During GE15 last November, Muda sacked its Perak chief Mutalib Uthman and suspended his membership for three years after he announced his candidacy for the Tapah parliamentary seat – a stronghold of MIC deputy president Datuk Seri M. Saravanan.
Mutalib was eventually fielded in Melaka’s Masjid Tanah, where he lost in a four-cornered fight.
Meanwhile, Muda earned criticism from PKR during the Johor election in March last year when it announced its candidate for Larkin, after the PH component revealed its candidate.
Muda reportedly requested seats previously won by Bersatu, including Larkin and Kempas, while PKR had offered three other constituencies.
Amanah and DAP, meanwhile, agreed to offer Muda six seats – Tenang, Bukit Kepong, Puteri Wangsa, Bukit Permai, Parit Raja, and Machap. – September 10, 2023