Labelled childish and immature, Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (MUDA) president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said he took full responsibility for the party’s dismal showing in Saturday’s (Aug 12) six state elections.
The Muar MP, however, believes that as young leaders, the party’s defeat in all 19 seats it contested will serve as a “maturing experience”.
He said the party graciously accepts the choices made by the electorate and added that the state polls were the first step of a long journey for MUDA.
“I think the candidates have tried their best but as a president, I need to do better. This is a very humbling experience for us at MUDA,” he told reporters after the election results were officially announced.
MUDA performed poorly in the elections, with their candidates losing their deposits in 20 constituencies.
Among MUDA candidates who lost their deposits were MUDA secretary-general Amir Hariri Abd Hadi, who obtained 1,834 votes in the Seri Serdang constituency, while R Thanusha received 2,357 votes in the Sentosa seat.
Apart from that, MUDA Information chief Loqman Long could only muster 376 votes in the Bandar seat in Terengganu while in Penang, MUDA candidate Viky Harikrishnan suffered a similar fate by collecting only 253 votes in the Perai constituency.
Contesting candidates lose their deposits if they fail to obtain one-eighth or 12.5 per cent of the total number of votes counted for the state constituency involved.
The youngest candidate in the election, MUDA’s Melanie Ting Yi-Hlin, 23, also lost her deposit after receiving 1,462 votes in the Bukit Antarabangsa constituency.
On the other end of the state election performance, Ng Sze Han of Pakatan Harapan (PH) garnered 71,290 votes, the highest votes won by a candidate in the state election in the contest for the Kinrara seat.
Meanwhile, Dr Afif Bahardin of Perikatan Nasional (PN) won the slimmest majority of 30 votes when he obtained 22,316 votes to take the Taman Medan seat.
On the possibility of forming a coalition with other parties, Syed Saddiq said it was time for some reflection, but added that the party remained steadfast in its commitment to be the voice of conscience, and to provide checks and balances.
