Syed Saddiq's Lost Promise

Syed Saddiq wants to portray himself as the future of Malaysia, that the old guard is “prosecuting” him on false charges.

Through his Facebook and Instagram livestreams, he rants and raves that he is the future of Malaysia and that he needs more time to build a new Malaysia.

But what Malaysians need to realize is that he has done little to prove that is something worth banking on, unless you base your metrics are what might benefit Syed Saddiq politically.

To his credit, Syed Saddiq’s achievement of pushing a constitutional amendment in Dewan Rakyat on the 16th of July 2019 is something that all Malaysians can be proud of. True to his word as youth orientated minister, he is not only the first politician to successfully push through a constitutional amendment since 2009, but also the first person to do so with a government that does not have a 2/3 majority in Parliament.

He has shown Malaysians that bipartisan cooperation is very well possible in Malaysia Baru and that the future of Malaysian youth is in good hands. But he is nothing but a sheep in wolves clothing.

Back in the Pakatan days, there was a near total abandonment of the reforms and improvements promised by him and Pakatan Harapan from GE14. His detractors might cite the almost parodic absence of free EPL screenings on public television, but it belies a fundamental lack of respect on part of the current government towards its obligations towards the rakyat.

They promised a new form of Malaysian government – to remove the old pillars of centralized power that have stunted our progress since the beginning of the 21st century. But since gaining power, it’s easy to see that nothing seems to have changed. If anything, it may have just gotten worse.

Even fundamental values such as freedom of speech continue to be threatened, amusingly by even Syed Saddiq himself.

There were little things such controversy over a KBS circular that threatened a Perdana Fellow under his watch for openly criticising his management of Bersatu’s Youth Wing.

This is surprising given that had long expressed the need for freedom of speech and expression prior to Pakatan’s win in 2018 and this kind of scare tactics were the same things that he had spoken out against during the election campaign.

Pakatan had promised 1 million high-paying jobs by 2020, but there was nothing in the way of policy programs that would support this. It doesn’t have to be anything radical such as a guaranteed jobs program, but anything that would resemble concrete shifts towards adapting to global economic trends have been yet to be seen.

Syed Saddiq himself never delivered on his sports portfolio, especially regarding the direction of how Malaysian football will continue to develop in this pivotal time for the NFDP.

We were in an exciting moment for the newly rejuvenated Malaysian football scene - and it will be up to Syed Saddiq to ensure that our young players can make the best.

The foundation has been set, thanks to the efforts of private clubs that pride themselves on independence. It will ultimately be up to the federal government to capitalize and emulate these efforts on the national level.

This applies to his patronage of the various new sports that he has publicly promoted during his tenure in KBS.

As it may be, maybe it is right for Syed Saddiq to start answering questions in the court of law, it is a matter of public interest.

And most importantly we should hold him accountable.