KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 31 — Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman hopes that his new party will change politics and the way it is funded in Malaysia.
He said his time as Bersatu Youth chief taught him that the current practice of rewarding party members with money as well as how political donations are handled must be changed.
In an interview with Malaysiakini, the Muar MP also said the money to run the “movement” — as it has yet to be registered as a political party — will come from the members themselves.
“It is coming from our own pockets,” he said.
“We need to disrupt the political funding process so that party warlords do not exist. At the same time, we want to ensure there is continuous party training so that when you know you are a leader (and) your time is up, you can train other leaders to come up.
“(So) it becomes a highly competitive process which truly inculcates the politics of service and not the politics of power, division or money and contracts,” he was quoted as saying by Malaysiakini.
“Those old styles of politics must be thrown out of the window. This is the true new politics which we want to instil in Malaysia.”
The former youth and sports minister added that his new party will rely on crowdfunding as well as impose a limit on corporate donations so they’re not “enslaved” by anyone.
He added that he is undecided as to whether the new entity will be registered as a political party or remain as a movement in light of the Sabah elections as well as the fact snap elections could be called in the near future.
He said the only thing that is certain is he has no plans for his movement to join Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s new party Pejuang.
“I, for one, believe in positive and healthy competition.
“In the end, we want to ensure all parties, and all platforms compete with one another to elevate youth voices to a better position.
“If today we field 10 young candidates, the other party will field 20 (candidates). In the future, I will field 30, and they will field more,” he added.
