KUALA LUMPUR – Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman’s decision to withdraw support for the unity government should come as no surprise, considering his former ties with former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, said a PKR parliamentarian.
Sg Buloh MP Datuk R. Ramanan said the Muar MP’s withdrawal from the government bloc is also the culmination of past instances when the youth-based party had “attacked” the unity government leadership.
“We all know that (Syed Saddiq) is a person that goes where Dr Mahathir goes. Where Dr Mahathir stands, he stands,” Ramanan told Scoop.
“To me, this move by Syed Saddiq (withdrawing Muda’s support for the government) is not a surprise. The writing was always on the wall. He’s going to where he was always supposed to be.
“He (Syed Saddiq) might have been sitting on the government bench before this, but all this while, he has attacked our leadership, to the point where he opted to put Muda candidates to contest against unity government candidates.”
Syed Saddiq, who is Muda’s sole parliamentary representative, was once considered Dr Mahathir’s protege when both political figures were part of Bersatu prior to the Sheraton Move in early 2020, which caused the collapse of the first Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration.
Dr Mahathir had then gone on to form the Malay-centric Pejuang – which he resigned from in December last year – while Syed Saddiq had set up the multiracial Muda, reportedly against his former mentor’s wishes.
The 98-year-old Dr Mahathir has since expressed his backing of Perikatan Nasional in the recent state polls, despite not being a member of any of the coalition’s component parties, including Bersatu and PAS.
Meanwhile, when asked to comment on how Syed Saddiq’s move to the opposition has caused the government led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to lose its supermajority in Parliament, Ramanan alluded that the matter is of no major concern.
“This (a two-thirds majority) is something that we have never had for all these years, and Malaysia is still standing.
“No one man is going to determine the fate of the country, (Syed Saddiq) is just one MP.
“I’m sure that if the government were to propose amendments for the betterment of the country and our people, the opposition would not object to them.”
Prior to Syed Saddiq’s withdrawal, Anwar’s administration, which also marks the formation of the nation’s first unity government, held a two-thirds majority in the Dewan Rakyat – the first since Barisan Nasional (BN) lost its supermajority during the 2008 general election.
The loss of the government’s supermajority yesterday preludes the six-day special sitting of the lower House today, which will focus on Anwar’s tabling of the Mid-Term Review of the 12th Malaysia Plan.
Bersatu Youth chief Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal has also submitted an emergency motion for Dewan Rakyat to hold a special sitting for the attorney-general (AG) to explain Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s conditional discharge from his corruption trial.
However, today’s Order Paper for the parliamentary session lacks any reference to the motion. It remains uncertain whether the AG’s explanation regarding the discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) granted to the deputy prime minister will be presented in the Dewan Rakyat.
Zahid’s DNAA was the leading cause behind Syed Saddiq’s move to the opposition bloc as the Muda president said while he will provide his support to the government when it comes to institutional reforms for public benefit, he cannot back a government that “drops corruption charges for the sake of power”.
Meanwhile, DAP’s Bangi MP Syahredzan Johan told Scoop that while it is Muda’s choice to pull support for the government, it is still “disappointing” that tensions between the fledgling party and PH components have led to such an outcome.
“Even before this, Muda has not been a team player for the unity government. The decision to contest against PH candidates and their constant attacks on PH have caused considerable anger and disappointment to us in PH.
“While we respect Muda’s stand regarding certain issues, they have not been fair in their comments, especially on the so-called lack of reforms by the unity government.
“In actual fact, in the space of a few months, Parliament has passed several progressive laws such as decriminalising suicide and abolishing the mandatory death penalty.”
He added that the relationship between Muda and PH has “frayed considerably”, pointing to Syed Saddiq’s labelling of DAP as “Zahid’s lapdog” after he was chastised for issuing public statements objecting to the DNAA granted to the BN chairman.
“Muda should remember that PH, especially DAP, has helped and supported them all these years both in Muar, Puteri Wangsa (held by Muda secretary-general Amira Aisya Abd Aziz) and also in the other places they contested in (during previous elections),” Syahredzan said.
Syahredzan’s comments echo those expressed by his party chief Anthony Loke yesterday during the party’s annual conference, where he told Syed Saddiq to keep in mind how he had not secured the Muar parliamentary seat “on his own merit”. – September 11, 2023