Do you have to be ‘muda’ to join MUDA?
MUDA recently said they were leaving their doors open for ‘national assets’ Khairy and Shahril to join them.
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As most of us are aware, MUDA is a fairly new political party.
Launched in early 2022, the party is headed by former Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.
The word ‘muda’ itself means young in Malay. The perception that many have of MUDA as a political party is that it is for youngsters.
However, recently MUDA said they were ‘leaving their doors open’ for former Umno leaders Khairy Jamaluddin and Shahril Hamdan to join them, as reported by FMT.
Describing the two as ‘national assets’, MUDA secretary-general Amir Hadi said their presence would have a ‘positive impact on the party’.
In case you just crawled out from underneath a rock, Khairy was recently sacked from Umno. Shahril meanwhile was slapped with a six-year suspension order.
Khairy, who now identifies as a ‘former something something’ on Instagram is currently seat-less and party-less.
The former Rembau MP was moved to Sungai Buloh by Umno for the last general election (GE15) where he lost to PKR’s R. Ramanan.
With an open invitation for the two to join MUDA, the question some may ask is how ‘muda’ would you have to be to join MUDA?
Khairy was born in 1976, which makes him 47 this year. Shahril is younger by 10 years, set to turn 37 this October.
Apparently, the assumption that the party’s name is an indication of its age limit is flawed.
A check on MUDA’s website found that there is no age limit to joining the party.
The MUDA acronym is not to be taken literally, instead it stands for Malaysian United Democratic Alliance.
According to the FAQ on MUDA’s website, the party is open to all regardless of age, race or religion.
Under the question: ‘If MUDA has no age limit then why is it often associated with youngsters?’ the answer was that this could be because most of the party’s leaders were young people like Syed Saddiq.
There is also the possibility that MUDA is perceived as a party for young people because they often championed issues close to the hearts of the younger generation such as job opportunities, #Undi18, democratic rights and current issues.
So to answer the lingering question, Khairy and Shahril are not too old for MUDA.
The two however have not responded to MUDA’s invite but we do know that Khairy is set to embark on a new career path as a radio deejay with Hot FM.
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