YOURSAY | Maybe 'muda' optimism is exactly what we need

YOURSAY | ‘It’s so refreshing to see new voices and ideas.’

Meet the faces behind Muda

Myviews: Well done, young ones. Do not be afraid of what others say. Go ahead and chase your dreams. If you fall, pick yourself up and go at it again.

The road ahead is full of bumps and potholes, but persevere and you will eventually achieve what you set out to do. For those of us in our old age, we may not live long enough to see your achievements but as long as we’re here, we will support you.

As far as we could see, Muda looked like a one-man party. That’s not to say it’s not good, but we think it might be a better idea if the party allow some of its key officeholders to take on a higher profile.

Let them occasionally come out with media statements. When your officeholders have a higher profile, it would be easier to identify them should they eventually stand as candidates in elections.

HardTruth: It’s so refreshing to see new voices and fresh ideas. Our nation is heading towards self-destruction as we speak, thanks to the endless scandals and idiotic leaderships at key government institutions.

The future of the nation belongs to the youth and the time to change is now. If Muda is organised and effective in promoting and implementing what it preaches, support for the party will surely come.

Gotcha: Syabas to the management committee of Muda for your patience in getting the party registered. Whatever it is, Malaysia needs new blood in the government to weed out the deadwood who are there for self-interest.

My advice – tell your members never to mix religion and race with politics. Secondly, Muda alone or even together with Warisan cannot lead the country in view of the rural population who have been manipulated by race and religion over the years. Muda and Warisan must join Pakatan Harapan for a better footing and success.

MerdekaMerdekaMerdeka: It’s such a breath of fresh air to read about the few of you at Muda. You exude youthful gung-ho, intellectual prowess and most noticeably (to me, anyway), self-empowerment.

Your most pressing and immediate task ahead is to help Malaysia heal from the living-dead – the decaying politicians who have for decades corrupted our beloved Malaysia and continue to do so.

Make Malaysia truly “Malaysia” again. Syabas to an awesome line-up, Muda.

Lionking: If the same dinosaurs are back in power in GE15, we can say goodbye to our nation. Things are pretty bad when leaders seem to give the impression that nepotism, kleptocracy and corruption are all okay.

Just look at the trials that are going on against the corrupt leaders, it looks like a big merry-go-round. Meanwhile, the US and Singapore have already concluded their cases linked to 1MDB.

Muda is our hope for better governance and leadership and must be helmed by qualified professionals. Countries like Finland and New Zealand have young leaders who have much energy, and they think of the nation first and foremost.

Jaybond: Whether it’s Muda or ‘tua’ or whatever, the political culture in Malaysia still sucks.

Don’t forget that Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman has been charged in court for allegedly misappropriating more than RM1 million from Bersatu, hundreds of thousands of which were found in cash at his house.

It would be amazing to see where the money came from. People usually just keep a few thousand cash at home but he allegedly had a few hundred thousand.

It is just like the old days in Umno where everyone gets rich after they get to lead the party at the branch or district level. When you ask, they’ll say they are fighting for the rakyat and at the same time secretly accumulating wealth.

Even religious preachers can’t seem to be trusted these days.

True Fiction: I don’t hear much about Muda expounding on what it stands for, I have not heard any elaboration, in-depth, of their policy principles in terms of governance, society, economics and environment.

As a start, it can list what it sees as the key external and internal problems Malaysia and Malaysians are facing and the strategic direction it will take to fix these problems.

I am interested to hear their 30,000ft policy proposals as well as their specific initiatives at the 1,000ft to drive these policies, including the timeframe and how they plan to fund the initiatives.

Mat M Din: Muda, a multiracial party with a gathering line-up of young professionals, activists and academics, with great passion to go for battle, will shake Malaysia to the root. With great ambition, they are poised to make radical changes and transform Malaysia into an enviable state.

To gain the hearts of the people and to make Muda a new young political party to be reckoned with, it has to show that it can accomplish something new and better, which has not been done by the existing competing political parties.

It has to put forward development plans, such as the transformation of the rural areas into a huge commercial farmland and animal husbandry and providing rural people with decent houses complete with modern amenities.

For the urban poor, provide them with affordable houses and menial jobs with adequate remuneration to enable them to live a decent life.

If all these measures could be systematically implemented, it will be warmly welcomed by the people and Muda can be assured of getting their full support and become one of the formidable and successful parties, beating all other parties which are outdated, racist, stink with corruption, and shouting empty rhetoric.

Clever Voter: Unknowns do not have past baggage or even obligations to fulfil, but Muda will not have it easy in a society that respects and tolerates the patronage system and a very divided community that is used to identifying anything or everything with race or religion.

If the purpose of Muda is to be a game-changer, it cannot do so without leveraging on the more established parties from the opposition. Even then, the alignment of its core values is important. Never forget each of the political parties has their own youth wing and they have enough resources to stretch themselves.

It is still a good move to establish Muda, but overcoming the recalcitrant system isn’t easy. Focusing on those outside urban constituencies will be tough. Still, delivering promises beyond handouts and freebies is a habit which Muda will need to replace.

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