PAKATAN Harapan (PH) has no reason or excuse to reject Muda’s application to be a partner as the youth-based party has always been a strong supporter of PH’s struggle as well as the unity government, grassroots leaders from the coalition said.

They said grassroots members of PH had no objections in welcoming Muda into their fold, adding that Muda’s president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman had expressed his desire to join the coalition since before the 15th general election.

“We (PH) are more open about accepting allies. Even with Barisan Nasional (BN), they joined us after GE15. There are no issues.

“But the ultimate decision to accept Muda lies with the PH leadership.

“I think the grassroots have no problem in accepting Muda as long as they support PH. The acceptance is just a technical issue,” said Selangor PKR’s deputy communications director Adzman Kamaruddin.

Muda leaders are dismayed over PH’s delay in announcing its decision to accept the party into the coalition.

In the last general election, Muda had contested as a PH ally as it was too late for its admission.

However, following the formation of the unity government, Muda has not been invited for the two unity government secretariat meetings. It has one parliamentarian in Syed Saddiq.

Muda secretary-general Amir Hariri Abd Hadi had expressed his party’s disappointment, saying they were still waiting for a response from PH to discuss Muda’s role in the government, in addition to its application to join the coalition.

In his reaction, PH secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail claimed he was too busy to read Muda’s application letter to join PH.

Adzman said the ongoing delay was just a “small issue”, adding that PH grassroots were ready to accept Muda as a member of the coalition.

“The grassroots have no issues as long as they are in line with the government’s aspirations,” he said.

He added that there had been no problems with Muda after the November 19 polls, although there had been some tension between PKR and Muda during the Johor elections in March last year.

Then, Muda clashed with PKR after failing to come to an understanding. As a result, PKR lost the Larkin state seat to BN candidate Mohd Hairi Mad Shah.

Adzman said he does not view Muda as a threat to PKR Youth although they both target young voters.

“You cannot compare Muda and PKR Youth. Each of us has our strengths, and we can work together by relying on each other’s strengths,” he said.

Poor GE15 outing

Meanwhile, Amanah’s central committee member Faiz Fadzil said Muda was already part of the unity government and the issue of joining PH should not be an issue.

“Muda has given its support to the unity government when it was established and to Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister.

“So, the issue does not affect the relationship in the unity government,” said Faiz.

PH component parties have also never considered Muda as an unimportant party, he said.

Meanwhile, political analyst at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Mazlan Ali said Muda failed to prove its dominance over the young voter segment since its establishment.

Muda’s failure can be seen in a series of elections it participated in, he said.

Mazlan also said Syed Saddiq failed to prove he is capable of bringing the youth movement to support the party.

“In GE15, Perikatan Nasional was able to get the votes from the youth.

“Muda’s GE performance was bad. Maybe because of that Anwar has his own reason. Muda, as a new party, does not have the power.”

Mazlan added that if Muda joins PH, the other parties in the coalition will have to compromise, especially in seat allocations.

“If many components make it difficult to negotiate seats, it’s not worth it… except for big parties like Umno.

“Perhaps a decision to accept Muda has not been made because it cannot prove it is an influential party,” said Mazlan. – March 28, 2023.