Syed Saddiq’s False Bravado
Syed Saddiq puts on a brave front to the public, part of his public appeal. After all, politicians willing to stand up for what they believe in are far in between at this point. 
Yet for all of the bravado, many were no doubt surprised that Saddiq had decided not run for the Johor state elections – despite sabre rattling and planning to build a coalition without PH partners, PKR.
This is nothing new for Saddiq, after all, he will take a big game and fail to follow through when it counts the most.
For example during the 2021 Budget vote in Parliament – spent the much of the week rallying against the government, stating that they should allocate the budget fairly.
When it came down to it, he simply sat down and did not stand up to support the motion for a bloc voting to pass the 2021 Budget – and did not join the 13 MPs Opposition MPs in ultimately rejecting it at its policy stage.
His apology?
“I cannot speak on behalf of the other MPs, but I personally believe, in hindsight, that what happened was wrong and I want to apologise,” he said in an interview with a local radio.
The bigger questions remain.
Why the sudden u-turn with his “apology”, when it is the right thing to do for the poorer communities in our country?
The Budget, the biggest to be tabled in our nation’s history, is full with injections meant to help Malaysians.
The apology that he did not reject it – in effect is a form of treachery to the rakyat who are going through hard times.
It is easy to dismiss their problems when your first real job right after university pays you an excess of RM 50 thousand a month. Even if the Muar MP is no longer the Minister of Youth and Sports, the MP salary he enjoys is more than 10-times the national minimum wage and 4 – 5 times the national average wage.
There is no doubt that such dismissal of the plight of the poor is something he inherited from his mentor, former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was infamously consistent in blaming the poor and telling them to work harder if he wants to succeed – yet ignoring that many of his children are millionaires and billionaires from the privilege of his position.
Yet to his credit, he did not move along with Tun Dr Mahathir in calling for bloc voting to reject the important budget. While it is good that it passed, we should also remember that Syed Saddiq toed the line out of cowardice.
But why didn’t he stand up? Wasn’t he an MP who was supposed to be independent from the stance of Pakatan Harapan – who mostly sat instead of standing up to force a division during the Parliamentary vote?
Effectively, this time he betrayed his urban liberal support base – by allowing the budget to pass at the policy stage. The “apology” at the end of the day was just to cover up.
He is indeed after all, a spineless politician that twists and turns when he felt the need to.
His tenure as a Minister was marked with various episodes of hypocrisy and even demagoguery. Recently, he quipped that the government should not revive the National Service program as it is “wasteful”, while citing that programs under his Ministry during Pakatan Harapan’s 22-month reign cost much less in comparison – despite nothing ever happened to the Youth Power initiative which cost taxpayers more than RM 50 million.
The only thing to ever came out of it was a series of graft investigations (including on Syed Saddiq himself) by the MACC!
Along with this double standard and selective behaviour, we all recall the many empty statements that did not materialise – 400 thousand jobs to be created in Johor, the abolishment of PTPTN loans, etc.
Syed Saddiq still thinks that he gets to escape from tough situations by saying the “right” things – at least to his audiences – and be done with it. There are many out there who know him as what he is – and finally some of his supporters will begin to see it.
This is nothing new for Saddiq, after all, he will take a big game and fail to follow through when it counts the most.
For example during the 2021 Budget vote in Parliament – spent the much of the week rallying against the government, stating that they should allocate the budget fairly.
When it came down to it, he simply sat down and did not stand up to support the motion for a bloc voting to pass the 2021 Budget – and did not join the 13 MPs Opposition MPs in ultimately rejecting it at its policy stage.
His apology?
“I cannot speak on behalf of the other MPs, but I personally believe, in hindsight, that what happened was wrong and I want to apologise,” he said in an interview with a local radio.
The bigger questions remain.
Why the sudden u-turn with his “apology”, when it is the right thing to do for the poorer communities in our country?
The Budget, the biggest to be tabled in our nation’s history, is full with injections meant to help Malaysians.
The apology that he did not reject it – in effect is a form of treachery to the rakyat who are going through hard times.
It is easy to dismiss their problems when your first real job right after university pays you an excess of RM 50 thousand a month. Even if the Muar MP is no longer the Minister of Youth and Sports, the MP salary he enjoys is more than 10-times the national minimum wage and 4 – 5 times the national average wage.
There is no doubt that such dismissal of the plight of the poor is something he inherited from his mentor, former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was infamously consistent in blaming the poor and telling them to work harder if he wants to succeed – yet ignoring that many of his children are millionaires and billionaires from the privilege of his position.
Yet to his credit, he did not move along with Tun Dr Mahathir in calling for bloc voting to reject the important budget. While it is good that it passed, we should also remember that Syed Saddiq toed the line out of cowardice.
But why didn’t he stand up? Wasn’t he an MP who was supposed to be independent from the stance of Pakatan Harapan – who mostly sat instead of standing up to force a division during the Parliamentary vote?
Effectively, this time he betrayed his urban liberal support base – by allowing the budget to pass at the policy stage. The “apology” at the end of the day was just to cover up.
He is indeed after all, a spineless politician that twists and turns when he felt the need to.
His tenure as a Minister was marked with various episodes of hypocrisy and even demagoguery. Recently, he quipped that the government should not revive the National Service program as it is “wasteful”, while citing that programs under his Ministry during Pakatan Harapan’s 22-month reign cost much less in comparison – despite nothing ever happened to the Youth Power initiative which cost taxpayers more than RM 50 million.
The only thing to ever came out of it was a series of graft investigations (including on Syed Saddiq himself) by the MACC!
Along with this double standard and selective behaviour, we all recall the many empty statements that did not materialise – 400 thousand jobs to be created in Johor, the abolishment of PTPTN loans, etc.
Syed Saddiq still thinks that he gets to escape from tough situations by saying the “right” things – at least to his audiences – and be done with it. There are many out there who know him as what he is – and finally some of his supporters will begin to see it.
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