This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on November 14, 2022 - November 20, 2022

AS a youth-centric multiracial party, the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) is facing its first major test of whether the public at large will accept its brand of politics in the 15th general election (GE15).

Muda’s founder and president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman says his party does not resort to the politics of pandering to the Malays to win elections, but instead promotes the politics of values and principles.

This sets the party apart from many of the others in Malaysia whose politicians pander to the Malay community to secure votes because the bulk of the constituencies in the country consist of Malay-majority wards or mixed seats with a significant Malay electorate.

But can Syed Saddiq succeed in changing the hearts and minds of the Malay community? The support from this cohort is extremely important for any political party or coalition seeking to form the government, whether at the federal level, or at the state level in the peninsula.

“If you don’t make your case to the Malays as to how the system [of political patronage and pandering] hurts them more, and there is an alternative vision that will make them better and more competitive, then why would the Malays believe you?

“I mean, tell me now: Which politicians are going on the ground, saying that the current system hurts the Malays more than others, and what alternative vision do they want to create? My problem is, many just fall into the politics of pandering,” says the incumbent member of parliament (MP) for Muar, in an exclusive interview with The Edge.

Syed Saddiq, 29, who served as youth and sports minister under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government between May 2018 and February 2020, is leading the charge for Muda in its first general election outing. He will be defending his Muar seat, which he won under the PH banner in 2018 as youth chief of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu).

When Bersatu left the coalition, following the Sheraton Move in February 2020, Syed Saddiq left the party in protest of the manoeuvre. After a stint as an independent MP, he and a few of his supporters from within and outside Bersatu formed Muda in 2021.

Muda is not a member of the PH coalition. Nevertheless, starting from the Johor state election early this year, the party has been in an election pact with PH to avoid going against each other and benefiting their common enemies, Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN).

Still, some political observers believe that, despite working together, PH and Muda are at a disadvantage as they do not have a strong Malay-based partner that could become the answer to BN’s Umno and PN’s Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) and Bersatu.

For Syed Saddiq, there is no need for a Malay-based party as a partner. This is why he chose not to join Parti Pejuang Tanah Air, which was founded by his former mentor Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad after they both left Bersatu, following the Sheraton Move.

“We’ve tried the Malay party option, the politics of pandering, but it did not work. For you to help and save the Malays, we need to change hearts and minds, and convince them that diversity is better for them — that opening things up is better for them, that a policy of competition is better for them,” says Syed Saddiq.

Turning to economic policies, Syed Saddiq admits that Putrajaya’s revenue base is not enough to implement the many socioeconomic programmes that the party wishes to pursue. This means the government needs to undertake fiscal reforms, which may include the introduction of new taxes.

But, first, the government has to close the loopholes before introducing new taxes, he says. If it fails to do so, the public will not be convinced that the government will use their tax money in the best way, he adds.

“In the first six months, you must go really hard on institutional reforms and make the toughest of changes. What this means is decentralising power from the hands of the prime minister, a policy of open tender, reducing cabinet size, ensuring in the end good practices and auditing are done properly.

“This is not a sexy issue but it is an issue that must be done. You can’t expect to tax the public and then the public suddenly [sees] the money being spent, hundreds of millions on white elephants or projects that do not help them,” says Syed Saddiq.

Nevertheless, closing fiscal loopholes could at best save only a few billion ringgit a year, he admits, and that will not cover the government’s fiscal deficit. According to Budget 2023, the government is operating at a fiscal deficit of 5.5% of gross domestic product.

Syed Saddiq adds that there is a need for a progressive taxation system, but it must be policy- and data-based.

He suggests introducing an inheritance tax, but not one that hurts the middle class. He cites, for example, an inheritance tax that is applicable on the transfer of wealth worth more than RM5 million or RM10 million, which, according to him, would affect only the top 3% of Malaysians.

Even then, he says, the wealth management industry must be consulted, so that the rich and their assets do not leave the country.

Syed Saddiq also advocates the setting-up of new industries that can raise revenue for Malaysia. He has discussed developing a well-regulated cannabis industry, which could bring new revenue sources to the country.

Diverging from PH’s earlier campaign in GE14 to do away with the Goods and Services Tax, he says talking about consumption tax cannot be avoided if the government wants to raise revenue. The consumption tax cannot be imposed right now, however, and it also cannot be imposed radically, he stresses.

After all that has been said about the man who was once the youngest minister in Asia, the allure that Syed Saddiq brings to the Malaysian political landscape cannot be denied. Whether he manages to use that allure to get voters to support him and his party remains to be seen.

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