YOURSAY | Muda will survive, Pejuang on shaky ground

YOURSAY | ‘The reason they are behaving this way is that they are impatient.’

COMMENT | Pejuang and Muda, don't beg

Prominority: Pejuang and Muda should do some soul-searching before pushing themselves to be admitted by the well-oiled and mainstream coalitions. Both are wet behind their ears and want to be super important.

They should ask themselves what they have done for the country instead of asking the country to serve them. Muda is in a debilitating situation and should work on more tools to overcome their self-doubt.

This is an appropriate article from veteran Sarawak editor Francis Paul Siah on making these two parties face reality instead of wallowing in fantasy.

KK Voter: As an experienced writer and a keen follower of politics, Francis should be a bit more objective in his writing. I am not a fan of Muda and I mostly agree with you about Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman's readiness.

However, Muda's situation is not the same as Pejuang's. Muda was in an electoral pact with Pakatan Harapan for the 15th general election and several state elections.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim himself said before the 15th general election, the reason Muda was not a component party was to avoid complications with the Registrar of Societies.

So now having seen the general election results and Harapan sees that Muda does not add any value to the coalition, they should reject them outright instead of what is now seen as hedging their bets.

Coward: The reason they are behaving this way is that they are impatient. When you suffer from that, you have no choice.

Syed Saddiq is younger than Mukhriz Mahathir, the president of Pejuang. Syed Saddiq still has a long road in front of him and people mostly feel he has a future in politics.

Having chosen to shun existing parties, he should concentrate on building his party up and only then only seek to join a coalition. When Muda is as strong as its coalition partners, it will bring more votes to the table.

Mukhriz's situation is more precarious. There is doubt on whether he can stand on his own because his track record as a leader is not rosy.

Unlike Syed Saddiq, nobody expects anything from Mukhriz and Pejuang other than it eventually being sidelined or disbanded. Having tasted power, he is not contented to be the leader of a fringe party and that is understandable.

However, his father, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, left him with no followers to build on, and he has to face the reality that without his father in power, Mukhriz himself is not a leader people will flock to yet.

What he has is a party stuck in the Mahathir era thinking. The opportunity here is for him to put his mark on the party. To ask him to emulate fresh, open-minded thinking like Syed Saddiq is not realistic.

Now free of his father, Mukhriz can make his mark by updating that thinking to a more modern progressive perspective. Can he do it? Possibly.

BluePanther4725: Pejuang and Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) might as well close the shop.

The people will never trust this treacherous Mahathir and all his cronies ever as they have betrayed us time and time again.

Besides, these toxic parties have nothing else to showcase except their extreme racism.

IndigoToucan1627: The advantage that both Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) and Muda have is that they have a seat each in Parliament, unlike Pejuang, which not only does not have any seats but came out of the last general election completely battered with all its candidates losing their deposits.

Hence, Pejuang is not in any position to bargain with Perikatan Nasional. As for PBM and Muda, although they have one seat each it is not needed as the unity government has enough seats to even have a 2/3 majority. So, there is no hurry for them to be admitted to the Harapan government, which is just too bad.

As for Muda, it has a chance to rise. Muda has the right principles and good leadership under Syed Saddiq. Over time, Muda can strengthen itself and either be an ally with Harapan or stand on its two feet as a credible party.

WhitePony9855: Muda is not in the same league as the youth wings in PKR, DAP or even Amanah. Muda must be patient and go through the ropes to gain acceptance.

Don't expect any handouts these coming state elections. Remember the Johor state election fiasco?

LoveMyCountry: Dear Harapan, don’t admit Muda into your coalition.

Muda should explain how different it is from PKR and what benefits the party will bring. Come to the next elections Muda would expect PKR and DAP to give up their seats for Muda to contest. Fat hopes.

They can't seem to win any new seats. They should stand against PN and PAS and win some seats first. Muda is expecting non-Malays to vote for it.

Bad Feng Shui: I remember Syed Saddiq telling the non-Malays to "move on" after being insulted by racist preacher Zakir Naik.

That idiotic move raised a lot of questions about him. Perhaps Syed Saddiq should heed his advice and move on to something else for now, instead of constantly craving political power.

Anonymous_47029368: Both Pejuang and Muda are too small to make an impact and do not provide any other real perspective.

So better just dissolve and merge into the main political parties. Don't waste any more time on it.

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