THE Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) has reiterated its desire to be part of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition after having worked with it in the recent general election (GE15). 

The youth-based party’s information chief, Luqman Long, said PH needed to reassess Muda’s application for membership, given that the election was over and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has formed the unity government.  

“We announced our interest and intention to be part of PH even before parliament was dissolved.  

“When we announced our intention to be part of PH, the response to us was that there were some technical and legal issues which prevented Muda from being a component in the PH coalition.  

“This for me was a fair statement and response considering it was a very time-sensitive matter and that there were legal matters involved as well but I would love to revisit the idea of Muda joining PH since this is no longer a time-sensitive matter,” Luqman, who is also Muda’s co-founder, told The Malaysian Insight.  

Muda had expressed its intention to officially become PH’s fifth component member prior to GE15.  

However, PH chairman Anwar had then said that it would require the approval of the Registrar of Societies (ROS) if Muda was to be admitted as a component party.  

He doubted whether ROS would approve such an application so close to federal polls. Hence, PH and Muda struck a deal to have an electoral pact for GE15.  

In GE15, Muda won one of six parliamentary seats contested, with Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman retaining his Muar seat.  

The other five seats it lost were Tanjung Karang, Tanjung Piai, Kota Marudu, Masjid Tanah, and Kepala Batas. 

Luqman said that there had been no official negotiation on admitting Muda as PH’s component. 

He said that the matter was not discussed in Muda’s GE15 postmortem meeting last week.  

However, with six state elections looming, Luqman said that talks between Muda and PH would have to start soon.  

He hoped for a deal to be clinched before the state elections.   

“I think there is at least a few more months (before the state elections).  

“Allow Muda to be part of the coalition before the state elections take place. 

“So, PH and Muda have to sit down together, revisit this idea and instead of moving together as an electoral pact, I think it would be so much better if Muda could be part of PH and work together in one single coalition,” he said.  

Six states — Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Penang, Kedah, Kelantan, and Terengganu — opted not to have their polls run concurrently during GE15, taking precautions for the year-end monsoon season.  

Only three states — Pahang, Perak, and Perlis — had their polls, while Sabah, Malacca, Johor and Sarawak had already held their elections prior to GE15.  

With the formation of the unity government, which sees PH working together with its long-time nemesis Barisan Nasional (BN), Luqman believes the state polls will be very interesting and unique.  

With PH and BN already seen working hand-in-hand in Tioman and Padang Serai, Luqman believes it does not pose a threat to Muda and their chances of getting a considerable number of seats to contest in the upcoming state elections.  

“For me, I believe in these particular states; we have the right candidates, even though we have not discussed it yet. 

“We have so many talents; we have good leadership in these states, which I think PH should consider and work together with us, even though PH and BN might work together now.  

“We stayed true to our words even until today in supporting PH chairman Anwar and PH.  

“I think that should be one of the considerations made by PH moving forward with discussions on state elections and whatnot.  

“If both Muda and PH stay true to our words and intentions, I think the negotiations will go well,” he said. 

Last month, Syed Saddiq was spotted exiting PKR’s headquarters in Petaling Jaya, where PH held their presidential council meeting.  

This fuelled rumours that the party was to be accepted into the coalition but nothing official has taken place.  

Also last month, Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari said that Selangor and five other state governments are having informal discussions on holding their elections simultaneously in 2023 as part of cost-cutting measures.  

No date has been fixed but there is a likelihood that elections in the six states may be held after the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration next year. – December 22, 2022.