PETALING JAYA, July 17 — The Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) today announced six more candidates for the state elections taking place next month, including information chief Luqman Long.
Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said Luqman will contest in the Bandar a state seat in Terengganu, which has a PAS incumbent.
Muda will also field a candidate for the Penang state election, with Priyankaa Loh Xiang Pin set to challenge Pakatan Harapan and PKR secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail’s Pantai Jerejak seat.
Four more of the party’s candidates will contest in Selangor: Al Hafiz Ikhwan Mohamad Assad in Dusun Tua, Siva Prakash Ramasamy in Kuala Kubu Baru, Afriena Shaqira Sariff in Sungai Kandis, and Dobby Chew Chuan Yang in Seri Setia.
Syed Saddiq said the decision to field the candidates to provide service to the constituency and not to go against Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the polls.
“We are fielding young and new candidates that have an excellent track record of providing service to the constituency with empowering programmes. We are not fielding candidates in Pakatan seats to go against them in the elections,” he said after the announcement here at Bilik Gerakan Muda.
“We are here to push out corrupt practices. That has been our principle since the beginning and we want to send a clear wake-up call to those in power,” he added.
The Muar MP said they intend for the candidates to serve as a check and balance if they are elected.
“It is not about working with PH or Perikatan Nasional to form a government but we want to be the check and balance. The seat is a symbol of people’s representatives,” he said.
Syed Saddiq said there will be more announcements of state election candidates from Muda.
“As there are a huge number of applications from the public to join Muda as a candidate, expect more announcements soon,” he said.
At the event today, Syed Saddiq also criticised Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for claiming every minister in his Cabinet is free of corruption.
He said this must be taken at face value as the prime miniter also has the authority to select the chief commissioner of the MACC as well as the attorney general.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi remains on trial for dozens of corruption charges from after the 2018 general election.
“By saying that, he is saying as if all ongoing corruption charges will be dropped after the state elections. The appointment of MACC and the AG is under his institution.
“You are using your power to clear your Cabinet of the charges. We can see now that some cases have been delayed indefinitely, Muda is defending the rule of law,” he said.
Syed Saddiq, who is also on trial for corruption, said he never asked for his trial to be delayed.
“I have some cases ongoing but I have never asked for it to be delayed or dropped. Don’t ever use your power to drop your Cabinet’s corruption cases,” he said.
