YOUTH-BASED Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) has not set conditions on the number of seats it wants to contest in the coming Johor elections, president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said.

He said negotiations over seats with Pakatan Harapan was still ongoing and expressed surprise at its chairman Anwar Ibrahim’s claim that Muda wants to contest 10 seats.

“Let me stress, anyone who speaks about (seat) negotiations on behalf of Muda does not represent Muda,” the Muar MP told The Malaysian Insight.

“You rarely hear people in Muda talking about seats because I told them not to.

“So, about the 10 seats (Anwar mentioned), to be honest, that is new to me. I’ve never heard of Muda wanting to contest 10 seats.

“I’ve never heard the demand of Muda needing to list down candidates before negotiations. This is the first time I’m hearing this.”

He was responding to Anwar who on Sunday said Muda, which is not part of the PH coalition but is collaborating with it for the coming Johor elections, wanted to contest in 10 seats and that they have been told to submit its list of candidates.

Johor has 56 state seats up for grabs. The PH presidential council had previously said its parties – PKR, Amanah and DAP – would contest in all seats.

Syed Saddiq reiterated that he has had multiple discussions with opposition party leaders about the Johor election but claimed neither he nor his party leaders have mentioned that Muda wanted to contest in 10 seats.

“Rest assured, whether it is five, 10 or 15 (seats) – all of this will be discussed internally and once we come to a conclusion, we will inform the public.

“Seats negotiations will be decided collectively and we will try our best to minimise seat overlaps with opposition parties.

“What I can say is, we have entered the second round of negotiations with PKR, and the third round of negotiations with PH, specifically Amanah and DAP.

“We have spoken to many other friends in opposition as well but to be clear, (we) only spoke to those in the opposition. Not once, not twice, but many times,” he said.

Syed Saddiq said he does not wish to talk about seat negotiations until they are finalised.

He said Malaysians are exasperated by the current political situation and talk of seat deals will further irk them.

“The reason why we don’t share this openly, while some others try to speak on behalf of us, is because we want to respect the process of negotiation.

“Malaysian public at large, especially Johorians are exasperated, bored, tired of the same old politicking.

“The only thing they hear in the times of pandemic and post flood relief is about seats, power struggles, people fighting with one another.

“Muda wants to focus on collecting opinions before we translate them into policy proposals, where we enhance our service,” the former youth and sports minister said.

Before the dissolution of the state assembly, Barisan Nasional had 28 state seats, PH 27 seats through DAP (14), PKR (7) and Amanah (6).

The Election Commission is to meet on Wednesday to fix nomination and polling dates for the Johor polls.

Muda is not Syed Saddiq

Syed Saddiq also said that seat negotiations were tough and required a lot of compromises, adding they would work towards achieving a win-win situation for all.

He, however, said Muda was prepared for any eventualities.

“If the middle path is not found, we will try our best again to mitigate any overlaps.

“However, I don’t think so we should presume we will not be able to complete negotiations.”

When asked about his candidates, Syed Saddiq said the Johor polls will be an opportunity for other members of Muda to contest and be part of the state government.

He said the party possesses many young talents and that he is willing to take the backseat in order to allow the rest to contest.  

“Muda is not Syed Saddiq and Syed Saddiq is not Muda. Muda is much bigger and larger than Syed Saddiq.

“We have so many great young talents and candidates who you could offer to the people of Johor. These are people of Johor and they are truly multi-racial and gender balanced.

“There are so many great young leaders, men and women, young and disruptive, who Muda can offer.

“I believe it is better for me to focus on getting them into the state assembly so that we can show that there is a great diverse, multi-racial and gender balanced team, which Muda can offer,” he said.

Syed Saddiq did not entirely rule himself out contesting in the Johor elections but said that the matter would be discussed after the seat negotiation with PH.

“Whether I will come in or not, that is a decision which we will discuss together.

“Let’s say, we reach a common path and Muda must make tough compromises, where we only get a few winnable seats, my priority is to let others (contest) first.

“Even if I take a backseat, it is perfectly fine because my job is to campaign remarkably hard to get them into government,” he said. – February 9, 2022.