Syed Saddiq, I was your fan, not anymore
People are smart, they don’t really accept things as what they been told, especially on the same issue that has been the cancer of this country for 60 years.
Harris Nasril
So it seems, the Save Malaysia campaign led by Mahathir, is after all just the first chapter of creating the political party in which Mahathir will use as the vehicle to take on the prime minister, Najib Razak. Mahathir’s proxy, former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin registered a new political party on Tuesday Aug 9, that he promises to be more open and progressive than Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s pro-Malay ruling Umno. Muhyiddin will be the president of the new party, called Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia or Bersatu for short, with Mahathir as the chairman and the latter’s son Mukhriz named as the vice-president.
In the backdrop of uniting Malaysians against Najib Razak, something really awkward surfaced from the creation of the party, on its members’ policy. Membership is open to all Malaysians who are bumiputera Malays, natives of Sabah and Sarawak and the Orang Asli. However, membership to other non-bumi is just as associate members. Muhyidin said they have the same rights as other members. Somehow, this has been proven otherwise because they cannot vote or contest for party positions but they can only be appointed to any position within the party. This means non-bumi members do not have a say in the direction of the party. This did not go down well with the people on the ground. Some even accused it as a racist party, a clone of UMNO, same people only with a different shirt.
Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, the famous three-time winner of the Asian British Parliamentary (ABP) Debating Championship’s Asia Best Speaker award, was one of the founding members of the political party.
“This party is a modern, progressive reform-centric pribumi party. Despite the fact that it still keeps its pribumi identity, if you look at the constitution of the party and also the objectives of the party, it is predominantly about notions of justice, equity, pursuit for the separation of powers and media freedom – a reform and justice based agenda which is for all Malaysians” said Syed Saddiq on an interview with The Star.
Commentators from his facebook account expressed their unhappiness with how things turned out. From fighting a racism policy, to supporting a political party that is based on racism. Exactly the things that Syed has been fighting all this while.
“Come on Syed. Your act today has proven you are just an opportunist. It is still a race based party, man! Segregation is everywhere and you are a part of it today. Very disappointed and we expecting better from you,” said Shahrizul Muiz, a senior executive from Penang.
A designer from Sarawak, Julian ManBun Ritom also gave a thumbs down to the party membership policy. “I’m a bumiputra (Bidayuh from Sarawak) and even I won’t join any bumiputra based parties. I don’t want people to define my actions and beliefs based on my genetics, but should be based on my actions, words and trust for every other Malaysian”
“Very disappointed you are condoning a race-based party in 2016.” said one commentator, Tez Tsang.
Another commentator, JC Lim wrote, “No matter how you word it, race based politics is race based politics. As a top debater, why didn’t you refute the statement but instead challenged them to follow suit and provide a second tier membership to other races? There is truth to what MCA has said. Yes, MCA is based on race based politics. But a new party that denies other Malaysians equal rights as a member is still full of racism. Walk the talk”.
Being bashed right and left, Syed Saddiq now face a really difficult situation on how to defend his new political party. Certainly, real politics is different from standing on a rostrum on a debate championship. One needs to face real people on the ground, and these people are smart, they don’t really accept things as what they have been told, especially on the same issue that has been the cancer of this country for 60 years.
There was once, Syed Saddiq said to Najib Razak “I was your fan, not anymore”. It seems like that tagline is certainly what Syed Saddiq’s fans thinks about him now.
