THE Foodpanda debacle in recent months has no doubt left a bitter taste in Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman’s mouth. What began as an expression of  “genuine concern” for the welfare of young Malaysian workers turned out to be an uncontrollable PR mess that not only affected him, but his cabinet colleagues as well. 

But was the firebrand leader from Bersatu genuinely concerned?

Syed Saddiq positions himself as a do-all for the government of the day. It was not the first time he had gone out of his way to champion the people – not too long ago he was busy lobbying for GoJek to be introduced in Malaysia, to the point he personally sett up a meeting between GoJek founder Nadiem Makarim and the prime minister himself, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. 

Bear in mind that GoJek provides food delivery services too and a direct competitor to Foodpanda if they make it onto our shores. Is our youth and sports minister in their pockets?

But let us not speculate too much. The fact is, such matters should not be part of the larger concerns of a minister, and these gymnastics are just red herrings thrown at us to hide the fact that at best, he is only good at fulfilling half of his tasks. 

While we should commend him for recognising and addressing the concerns of the Malaysian youth (paid internships, lowering the voting age and the like), Syed Saddiq has not done a good job when it comes to developing Malaysian sports. Since May 2018 we have seen many Malaysian athletes complaining about lack of direction from the ministry, both in continuing developmental works in mainstay sports and in planning for new ones such as esports – it wasn’t until recently that he announced a league for it.

It can be safely said that his attempts to hijack our Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran’s job are a ploy to channel more positive attention onto himself, and filter out the bad publicity. We all know Syed Saddiq to be someone who, more often than not, says the right things at the right time but does not follow through. 

His chumminess with businesses is indeed worrying. When the idea of GoJek in Malaysia was first brought up, many of his supporters had justified his actions, saying we needed a direct competitor to Grab. But they overlooked the fact that there are other monopolies here in Malaysia that have abused pricing for far too long, such as the likes of Astro. 

But of course, being Dr Mahathir’s blue-eyed boy, Syed Saddiq refrained from even touching on the matter, seeing as Astro is owned by a dear friend. So much for genuine concern. 

In Syed Saddiq’s mind, he thinks that being in the spotlight when it comes to things like the Foodpanda crisis is all that is needed to secure his path towards loftier positions. To him, it’s not about working with the rest of the cabinet and government members and sharing ideas and solutions – it is all about him staying relevant to young Malaysians.

While Kulasegaran may seem like an easy target, there is no doubt that many senior politicians in the cabinet are tired of Syed Saddiq’s antics, along with many grassroots members in Bersatu and PKR.

What he is too short-sighted to understand is, most of the young people in Malaysia are not even Muar voters, nor are they Bersatu Youth wing members. Stepping over his own cabinet members just for the spotlight will only set things up harder for himself later. 

I am sure many Malaysians are supportive of new faces in politics who have fresh ideas and the zeal to bring forward the best policies. It is just too bad that Syed Saddiq, while having the potential and capability for it, decides to squander our hopes for his 15 minutes of fame.

But maybe it is for the best that this charlatan of a statesman is exposed for what he truly is. Malaysia deserves better politicians to serve her, not someone who thinks of himself as a new revolutionary figure. But what does it say about our future as a nation when our youngest minister only cares about his own image? – October 17, 2019.

*Daniel Ong reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.