COMMENT | Umbrellas to fight floods - Muda and its follies
COMMENT | Muda has been a hot topic on social media ever since it was announced by Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman in September 2020. After much fanfare, however, nothing much seems to have been done by Syed Saddiq and his team.
Muda's reason was that its registration as a political party was deliberately delayed by the Registrar of Societies (RoS). In fact, Syed Saddiq had repeatedly aired his grouses over the matter in the past month, culminating in a protest in front of the RoS headquarters in Putrajaya.
The protest was notable for its use of black umbrellas, signalling a visual call-back to "Umbrella Movement" protests in Hong Kong and Thailand. This protest eventually got them nowhere with the announcement that RoS had rejected Muda's application.
Trendy as it may seem, it is also quite reckless for Muda to try and draw comparisons with the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong and Thailand where umbrellas were used in response to government and police violence experienced by the protestors and in solidarity against their opponents. Ironically, it has not gained much traction beyond the Klang Valley since it was launched in September 2020.
Key to this is a lack of clear messaging on the part of Muda; while Hong Kong protestors aim to remove Chinese interference in their self-governance and the Thai movement seeks to reduce royal influence in policy making – there has been no unified messaging as such from Muda.
So, what is Muda's actual mission?
COMMENT | Muda has been a hot topic on social media ever since it was announced by Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman in September 2020. After much fanfare, however, nothing much seems to have been done by Syed Saddiq and his team.
Muda's reason was that its registration as a political party was deliberately delayed by the Registrar of Societies (ROS). In fact, Syed Saddiq had repeatedly aired his grouses over the matter in the past month, culminating in a protest in front of the ROS headquarters in Putrajaya.
The protest was notable for its use of black umbrellas, signalling a visual call-back to "Umbrella Movement" protests in Hong Kong and Thailand. This protest eventually got them nowhere with the announcement that ROS had rejected Muda's application.
Trendy as it may seem, it is also quite reckless for Muda to try and draw comparisons with the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong and Thailand where umbrellas were used in response to government and police violence experienced by the protestors and in solidarity against their opponents. Ironically, it has not gained much traction beyond the Klang Valley since it was launched in September 2020.
Key to this is a lack of clear messaging on the part of Muda; while Hong Kong protestors aim to remove Chinese interference in their self-governance and the Thai movement seeks to reduce royal influence in policy-making – there has been no unified messaging as such from Muda.
So, what is Muda's actual mission? They have yet to make a clear stance on various issues and face attacks for issues like LGBT, liberalism and even being anti-monarchy but the crux of the matter is that they cannot claim to be significant proponents of any of these causes to begin with. They are as insignificant as the contributions of its founder, Syed Saddiq.
What has he and now Muda done to inspire youths around the country to bring about meaningful change to society? The answer is simple: nothing.
Apart from showing up in black umbrellas to make noise about issues that simply are not the focus of the rakyat, they have done precious little to convince Malaysian youths that they are a viable political entity deserving of their support. Muda will inevitably disappoint these idealistic youths due to their lack of organisation and unity within their ranks, not to mention the complete lack of clear messaging.
Talking of symbolism, it is quite funny to see Muda standing under the hot sun with black umbrellas when floods inundated many parts of the country. What has Muda done to help with flood relief efforts in the affected states? Not much, evidently.
This is in stark contrast to groups like the Southern Volunteers in Johor, an NGO set up recently to inculcate volunteerism amongst Johor youth. To date, they have given out aid in flood-hit areas like Kota Tinggi, Kluang and Johor Bahru.
Furthermore, we are in the midst of a pandemic that has affected many people economically and financially. How did Syed Saddiq and his ragtag bunch conclude that it was appropriate to ask the people for money? Publicity stunts where Syed Saddiq pledged to shave his head should be taken with a huge pinch of salt. Anyone who has seen the inner workings of politics will know that this was just a ploy to raise funds for Muda.
Even Dr Mahathir Mohamad has come out to say that Muda will be a failure. Yet, Syed Saddiq is not confident enough to stop sucking up to him and has repeatedly met with him in the months following his statement. Is Syed Saddiq now conceding that Muda has failed and is desperate to gain access to Mahathir's billions?
The problem is, what is Muda going to do? It is starting to look like a scam – lofty promises being made but with nothing to show for. This would no doubt cause more disillusionment amongst the youth with the politics of this country and must be put to a swift end.
We need an alternative youth movement that will truly uphold the cause for the youth. We need to start seeing clear and consistent messaging, and actual effort being taken to realise the ideals for which Malaysian youths stand for.
Muda is not the answer. Stop trying to fool us, Syed Saddiq. We see through the charade.
