GE15: Here’s All You Need To Know About Syed Saddiq
From giving out laptops to facing criminal charges, Syed Saddiq has had an eventful political career.
Subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest stories and updates.
The election is coming, and you still don’t know who to vote for. Let us help you by providing a little background on some of the politicians you’ll be voting for.
READ MORE: Here’s All You Need To Know About Khairy Jamaluddin
READ MORE: GE15: All The Information You Need About This Year’s Independent Candidates
This time around, we’re taking a look at Syed Saddiq. Here’s a snippet on the Muda president’s political career that’s been making headlines these past few years.
A little background
Syed Saddiq bin Syed Abdul Rahman was born in Johor in 1992 (30 years old) to a Singaporean father and a Malaysian mother. He got his secondary education at Royal Military College (RMC) and his tertiary education at International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), majoring in Law (LLB).
He was offered scholarships to pursue his master’s abroad, one of which was at Oxford University in 2017 but he opted to stay active in local politics.
He then successfully completed a Senior Fellowship at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in April 2021.
Involvement in politics
He started to dabble in Malaysian politics in 2016 when he joined a group called Change Led by the Young Generation (Challenger), which rejected Najib’s leadership over the 1MDB scandal.
Then he joined Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) – when it was still under Pakatan Harapan – as the leader of a youth wing under it called Angkatan Bersatu Anak Muda (Armada) the same year.
In 2018, he contested in the 14th general election and won the parliamentary seat for Muar, becoming one of the youngest members of parliament – Najib (when he first won) and Batu’s then independent candidate P Prabakaran were among the youngest too.
READ MORE: Syed Saddiq Shows Off Fantastic Murals In Muar To Take OOTDs With
READ MORE: ‘Snoop’ Saddiq Gives Rap A Try In Deepavali Video
The youngest cabinet Minister
After Pakatan Harapan defeated Barisan Nasional (BN) in 2018, a party that had ruled for over 60 years, Syed Saddiq was appointed as the Minister of Youth and Sports. He was the youngest minister in Malaysian history to be in the cabinet at only 25 years old. Because of this too, he was often bullied by the veteran MPs during parliamentary proceedings.
READ MORE: Muar MP Syed Saddiq Called “Budak” In Parliament Again But Backed Up By Hannah Yeoh
Under the leadership of then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Syed Saddiq served in the government for almost two years until PH collapsed following the Sheraton Move. After that, Mahathir set out to form his own party called Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang). Syed Saddiq formed his own independent party too called Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) in 2020.
READ MORE: Bersatu Sacks Dr M, Mukhriz, Syed Saddiq, Maszlee Malik & Amiruddin Hamzah
Muda is a youth-centric, multi-racial party that seeks to be disruptive, pro-democracy and policy-driven. It was officially registered (after a few rejections) as a political party on December 2021.
READ MORE: Everything We Know About Syed Saddiq’s New Youth-Based Platform
Fun Fact: When he was six, Syed Saddiq sent an invitation to the former PM Mahathir to invite him to his home for cookies. From idol to rival, anything could happen. 🤷🏽♀️
Contributions
Undi18 was his baby
While he was a Minister, he helped push the lowering of the minimum voting age in Malaysia from 21 to 18 years old and the amendment was finally implemented in December 2021. For GE15, 1.4 million Malaysians between the ages of 18 and 20 (among 21.1 million voters) are eligible to vote.
READ MORE: Malaysia makes history with Undi 18, Dewan Rakyat agrees to lower voting age
It’s slow, but the minimum wage is increasing
He was one of the people who fought to increase minimum wage in the private from RM1200 to RM1500 which was finally implemented on May 2022. Before this, he also fought for the minimum wage of government interns to be raised from RM300 to RM900 which was implemented in September 2019.
READ MORE: Minimum Wage Officially Raised To RM1,500 On 1 May
READ MORE: Govt interns entitled to RM900 allowance per month starting Sept 1
Suggests to legalise medical marijuana
Syed Saddiq also supported and suggested that the government should look into the benefits of medical marijuana like other countries.
He also showed solidarity with nasheed artist and composer Muhammad Yasin Sulaiman who was charged with cultivating cannabis plants and trafficking 214g of cannabis at his condominium in Kota Damansara.
READ MORE: Time To Recognise Medicinal Marijuana, Says Syed Saddiq
Esports wouldn’t be the same without him
As the Youth and Sports Minister once upon a time, he pledged to transform Malaysia into an esports powerhouse not only in ASEAN but also in Asia. He oversaw the E-sports blueprint which has 5 strategies to expand the development of the sport among Malaysians.
READ MORE: Is M’sian eSports worth the effort?
Got laptops for underprivileged students
As Muar’s MP, he really fought hard to provide laptops for underprivileged students in Muar. He even did several crowd fundraising and managed to raise over RM300,000 and RM196,000 to buy laptops and tablets for the needy in Muar. According to his Instagram post, to date, 1965 laptops and tablets have successfully been given away to those in need in Muar.
A brief timeline of Syed Saddiq’s political duties:
- 2016 – 2020: Bersatu Youth Chief (Armada)
- 2018 – Present: Member of parliament for Muar
- 2018 – 2020: Minister of Youth and Sports
- 2020 – Present: MUDA President
Criminal charges
Politics is never clean, as they say.
Despite being the youngest politician, Syed Saddiq was accused of four counts that could leave him with a hefty fine and long jail time.
He was charged with one count of abetting in criminal breach of trust (CBT) of more than RM1 million in March 2020, one count of misappropriation of assets worth RM120,000 in April 2018, and two counts of money laundering worth RM50,000 each in June 2018 – all when he was in Bersatu, his previous party.
The prosecution rests its case on September 27 and the court will continue with Syed Saddiq’s defence between February and April next year.
“I will tell my side of the story so that justice can win”, said the incumbent Muar MP after the hearing on October 28.
READ MORE: [UPDATED] Syed Saddiq Pleads Not Guilty In RM1 Million Bersatu Breach Of Trust Case
He’s still representing Muar
As what some PH politicians are doing, Syed Saddiq also joins the trend of declaring his assets to prove his transparency towards the public before the election. His assets are worth RM1.9 million currently, including the two invaluable cats that he labelled as gifts from his brother and friend.
Syed Saddiq is contesting in Muar under Muda (in cooperation with the PH coalition) against Mohd Helmy Abd Latif from BN and Abdullah Husin from Perikatan Nasional.
READ MORE: [Watch] Malaysian Politicians Are Taking Over Tiktok Ahead Of GE15
READ MORE: GE15: What’s been happening so far?
Share your thoughts with us via TRP’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.