MUDA is Pakatan Harapan’s “wow” factor in the March 12 Johor elections, state DAP vice-chairman Sheikh Omar Ali said.

The Paloh assemblyman told The Malaysian Insight that Muda, headed by Muar MP and former youth and sports minister Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman, would give PH a chance at forming the Johor state government again.

“Without Muda, the Johor election will be like the Malacca election for PH, with nothing new.

“Yet working with PH, Muda brings a ‘wow’ factor. We will campaign together; it will be refreshing for voters.

“Muda, too, as a new party, will need the help of our grassroots. Muda’s popularity will in turn help PH in reaching young voters,” Sheikh Omar said in an interview in Kluang, Johor.

Muda will reduce PH’s prospects of failure, especially in the event of low voter turnout, as was the case in the November Malacca polls, when only 60% of voters cast their ballots, he added.

He hoped for a higher voter turnout in Johor as more voters have been added to the electoral roll following implementation of Undi18 legislation to lower the voting age from 18 to 21, and to automatically register all voters aged 18 and above.

“If voter turnout for the Johor polls is again 60% to 65%, as it was in Malacca, then without Muda there will be nothing to attract voters to cast their ballots.”

Johor has 2.59 million voters with the addition of 748,955 names to the electoral roll.

Sheikh Omar acknowledged the unpredictability of these new voters and how they would vote, but added that with Muda, there is at least a chance PH can attract more people to the ballot box.

Muda is not part of PH, is working with the coalition for its maiden electoral outing.

It has been given six seats, two from DAP and four from Amanah. PKR, which is also part of PH but is using its own logo in the elections, is reportedly ready to hand a further three seats to Muda but this has yet to be confirmed. There are 56 seats in the Johor assembly.

Muda will also be using its own logo in the elections.

New but not without teething problems

Despite earning public praise for its swift action in the December floods, Muda has drawn criticism for a few issues.

Syed Saddiq posted about supposedly poor service voters in Ulu Tiram, Johor, were receiving, implying that the DAP incumbent had not done his job.

Syed Saddiq deleted his post and had to apologise, following a backlash from disgruntled followers.

Meanwhile, Muda’s acceptance of Dian Lee, a property developer and daughter of tycoon Lee Kim Yew, has critics linking this to Muda’s silence on policy issues such as housing prices and property over-development.

Some have observed that, save for broad statements about ensuring better jobs and adequate housing for youths, Muda has yet to touch on other important issues or be specific on any of its policies.

The third and most recent issue is the uploading of an unsanctioned poster on social media by Kedah Muda, which implied that allies PH and PKR were giving and taking bribes, along with Barisan Nasional and Perikatan Nasional.

The poster emerged right after the youth party announced its deal with DAP and Amanah in Johor, and after PKR announced its offer.

Although national information chief Luqman Long apologised, had the poster removed and suspended the party’s Kedah information chief, the Muda leadership is under fire for its inability, indiscipline and inexperience.

Nevertheless, an undaunted Sheikh Omar said Muda’s fresh image is still its best asset in the state elections.

To him, it’s not so much the party’s youthfulness but what it represents: ideals, anti-corruption and without the usual baggage of “old politics” that more established parties grad with them.

“Even young candidates from other parties are being rejected; young voters don’t necessarily vote for a young candidate,” he said.

“Yet Muda is new, and to those who are disappointed with old politics, it is a fresh alternative without the baggage of the politics of the past 20 years that we are still stuck with,” Sheikh Omar added. – February 12, 2022.