“Be wary of the ‘political chameleon’ called Syed Saddiq”

“Be wary of the ‘political chameleon’ called Syed Saddiq”



by Kamarul Jaafar


MUAR MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman is a staple of political social media at this point – with nearly two million follows on Instagram alone, his audience is no doubt clamouring for his takes and content on the latest political developments in country.

His transparency is something to be praised upon as he is clearly keeping up with the demands of a more youthful and curious audience, but as we have seen recently, it has its own drawbacks.

For example, the former youth and sports minister was advised by the High Court to be more mindful when commenting about his court case on his social media posts.

This of course involves his criminal breach of trust (CBT) case involving RM1mil and another charge of misappropriation of monies involving RM120,000, said to be funds that belonged to his former party, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia.



Perhaps galvanising the good will from his recent flood aid works, Syed Saddiq seeks to turn public opinion on the case but we all know that there is always a hidden side to Syed Saddiq’s social media adventures.

A case to note. We all remember Islamic preacher Dr Zakir Naik’s disparaging remarks against the Chinese and Indian communities, where Syed Saddiq was quick to jump on the bandwagon as a hero defending the rights of Malaysian minorities.

After Zakir questioned the loyalty of Chinese and Indian citizens of Malaysia Syed Saddiq publicly stated that the fugitive preacher should be deported back to India.

But lo and behold, within two weeks, the blue-eyed boy of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad invited the preacher for a meal in his home and called for Malaysians to move on as Zakir has “apologised” for his remarks.

It is no surprise that many still remember the hypocrisy.

At the time, Syed Saddiq was the leader of his former party’s youth wing.

Likely in an attempt to appease grassroots supporters and put on a show Syed Saddiq did what he felt was needed to reinforce his position among Bersatu members, among other dubious action by the former minister to secure his position.

Opportunistic hypocrite

Many people were right to call him a hypocrite. Following the brickbats, Syed Saddiq has been working hard to court the minorities of Malaysia that he threw under the bus.

This includes being chummy with the biggest party in the Parliament, DAP, through various social media stunts as well as campaigning for them in the recent Sabah by-elections.

Bear in mind that it was as recent as this year that he publicly denounced several key members of the party for “pressuring” Mahathir to step down as prime minister and hand over the baton to PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as promised.

Of course, it does not make sense for him to cater to the Malay nationalist voter base again as none of the main parties wanted him in their fold.

So endearing himself to the middle ground, the urban and younger voters is his only choice.

The willingness to U-turn so quickly just paints the picture that Syed Saddiq is a political chameleon with no real principles.

It probably would not have mattered much if he did an excellent job as the youth and sports minister – alas he did not.

Aside from lowering the voting age (which was supported by both sides anyways), his tenure has been unremarkable at best.

Unfortunately, we see the same patterns with his new party Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (MUDA).

Despite having established themselves for months now, with many Malaysians signing up as members, the fledgeling party has no concrete policy plans and core principles to speak of.

Worse still, no organisational structure has been announced, leaving many to wonder if it will just turn into a NGO at the end of the day.

It is time for Malaysians to put a stop to this.

While his impacts are still limited today, Syed Saddiq – if given free rein to be the political chameleon that he is – may evolve one day into a gifted demagogue that may put many Malaysians worse off than where they started.

Let’s deny him the opportunity. – Jan 25, 2022.