- 8 months ago
- #considerthis
MUDA is holding its first-ever party elections on 14th March 2026, with 31 candidates contesting seats on the Central Executive Committee. But with founding member Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman’s decision not to contest, what will these elections reveal about MUDA’s identity, future leadership, and its political direction heading into GE16. On this episode of #ConsiderThis Melisa Idris speaks with Amira Aisya Abd Aziz, Co-Founder & Acting President of MUDA. She is also MUDA’s Assemblyperson for Puteri Wangsa in Johor.
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00:10Hello and good evening. I'm Melissa Idris. Welcome to Consider This. This is the show
00:15where we want you to consider and then reconsider what you know of the news of the day. Muda is
00:20holding its first ever party elections with 31 candidates contesting seats on its Central
00:27Executive Committee. But beyond the contest itself, what will these party elections reveal about Muda's
00:35identity and the political direction of the party heading into GE16? Joining me on the show now is
00:43Amira Aisha Abdulaziz, who is the co-founder and acting president of Muda. She's also Muda's
00:48assembly person for Pucci Wangsa in Johor. Amira, thank you so much for joining me on the show today.
00:54So, Muda holding its inaugural party elections, tell me what this moment represents for the party.
01:01It's been a long time in the making.
01:06Well, when Muda was registered back in 2020, we had to go through a court battle before we finally
01:13get recognised by the Registrar of Societies. And so, we were actually only officially registered
01:18in December 2021. And then after that, we had our first pro-tem party election. And then we were thrown
01:25into
01:26the Jeho State election, the general election. You know, then we went through the six states election.
01:33So, there were a lot of moments in Muda where it was really very difficult for us as a new
01:38party to stabilise
01:39our foundation. And so, after all this has happened, now that we are going and stepping into our first
01:46party election, this has sort of like a huge symbolise for Muda to turn from a movement, which
01:53was where we were starting, to an actual political institution, which is where we are heading towards
01:59right now. And I think this is very exciting because we all know that general election is looming
02:05ahead and it's very near. And so, this upcoming party election is going to choose the election
02:11line-up for Muda. So, whoever is going to be elected in 14th March will be the people who will
02:16decide on Muda's general election 16. There will be the people who decide on who Muda works with.
02:22There will be the people who decide where will Muda contest in. There will be the people who decide
02:27what kind of candidates will Muda have. And it's so exciting to look at this first party election
02:33election because we have such diverse candidates that reflect the real Malaysia that we want to
02:38champion. And so, what we will have in 14th March will also be the reflection of the kind of Malaysia
02:43that we want to fight for in Muda. Okay. So, I want to get into the candidates that will be
02:51contesting
02:51for seats on the Central Executive Committee. But first, talk to me a little bit about how the elections
02:56might work in practice. I mean, who gets to vote? How were the candidates selected? Or what happens
03:03after the results? How does that shape the Central Executive Committee?
03:08Well, we did it. We're doing our election in what we call the perwakilan style, where all the bahagian,
03:17they will send their five members. They will sign their five representatives to vote at the party election
03:24on 14th March. All these five members will vote 25 out of 31 candidates. So, we are voting for only
03:30the top 25. We're not vying for a contesting presidency or deputy president or vice presidents.
03:37The representatives from each bahagian will select the top 25 and then the top 25 will convene
03:43and those top 25 will select the president, the deputy and the five vice presidents and also the chief
03:49information. And then the president will appoint the secretary general and treasurer. We found that
03:55this way is actually the same way that was done by some other parties like DAP, like Amana. And we
04:01think
04:01that this is the best way to practice democracy while also ensuring that the party remains stable and
04:07that there will be healthy competition within the party.
04:11Right. So, this healthy competition, so 31 candidates contesting for seats. What does that tell you,
04:17that level of contestation? What does that reflect to you, I guess, six years down the road
04:24for MUDA? How do you see it? I mean, is that a healthy sign of internal participation? And you've talked
04:31a
04:31little bit about the diversity of the candidates. Was that something that MUDA actively encouraged in
04:38terms of its candidacy? Yeah. One of the things that I found very encouraging is that when MUDA was
04:44first founded, obviously Saeed Sadiq was the central figure of the party and people see MUDA as Saeed Sadiq
04:50and Saeed Sadiq as the party. But when he stepped aside in 2023, there was a big question mark of
04:55whether
04:56or not MUDA can have other leaders other than Saeed Sadiq. So, when he decided not to contest in this
05:02party election, a lot of question was swirling around the fact that will we have more leaders
05:07from MUDA? We went through some very challenging times in 2023, 2024, 2025 and now in 2026. But the
05:16fact that we have 31 young leaders stepping forward to take the mantle of leadership is a good signal
05:21that the party is still doing our very best and the party is still hopeful that we can be part
05:28of
05:28the change of Malaysia that we want to see. And these 31 candidates, they come from diverse backgrounds.
05:32There are people who come from business. There are people from the activism scene. There are people
05:37from education scene. There are people who are startup founders. There are people from the corporate
05:43line. And this signifies the kind of Malaysia that we want to see. We have 16 Malays and Bumis and
05:49also
05:4915 non-Malays. We have 10 candidates under 30. And I often say this, that this is something that we
05:55are very proud of because you will not see in other national parties where people under 30 are vying for
06:02the topmost position. Most of the time, they will look at the youth wings and not the main wing. But
06:07because we don't have youth wings, we don't have female wings. So, we're celebrating all of them to
06:12recognize they are married. And if they are able to convince the members, they will be able to become
06:17the top 25. And we have seven women also contesting for Muda party election. And all this shows that,
06:25you know, we obviously will have different ideas. We have different policies that we want to champion.
06:30And this made the party election something that is very exciting. And I look forward to see
06:36what kind of CEC we will have for 2023 to 2026. So, from 2026 to 2029, because this CEC will
06:44also
06:45shape. What kind of policies will Muda fight for? And how do we take Muda for the next three years?
06:51But the gender diversity particularly is very exciting for me. Amira, I wanted to bring back
06:57something that you mentioned just now. There is, you were right to have pointed out, there's a
07:01perception that Sadiq is Muda and Muda is Sadiq. I want to talk a little bit about that because I
07:07think
07:07it does a disservice to a party that is trying to move away from personality politics. Can you talk
07:16to me a little bit about that decision of Sadiq not to contest in these elections and what, how
07:22significant that is for the party at this stage of the evolution and also what that mess, what the
07:28message is that sends out to not just party members but to the wider public?
07:33Yeah. Well, Sadiq will always be an important part of Muda. However, it's important for us to
07:40recognize that for Muda to thrive as a movement, it has to be beyond one individual. Muda has to be
07:46bigger than Sadiq or Amira Aisha or any one person. Malaysia politics have to move beyond individual,
07:55beyond personality politics and into actual policy and service politics. And the fact that Sadiq stepped
08:02away from this election gives more highlight to other leaders who've actually been steering the
08:07party for all this while. Even when Sadiq was at the helm, you know, he as a one person, he
08:12would
08:12not be able to take Muda as to where he is now alone. There has always been many leaders behind
08:18the
08:18scene and also out there actually taking Muda to where we are right now. Other than Sadiq and myself,
08:24we have people like Aini Hazika, we have people like Liban Siddhar who's our chief info, Aini is our
08:29secretary general who's right now the only female secretary general in Malaysia. We also have people,
08:36younger people like Rashifa Aljunik who's at the age of 26 years old, is already in our central executive
08:42committee. People like Fah Ezra who is in Sabah, steering the Sabah state. And all these people at
08:48different state levels who have helped shape Muda into what Muda is right now. So when Sadiq stepped
08:53away from election, I don't see that as something that is bad. I see that as Muda really putting
08:59forth all the other leaders that we have in the party to steer us forward. And if a political party
09:05is continuously dependent on one figure to succeed, then we're not really changing the political
09:10culture that it is in Malaysia. And when Muda was founded, what we wanted was not to just win
09:15election. If we only wanted to win election, then the equation would have been very simple,
09:20join a big coalition, and we will definitely be having seats in election in in the government.
09:25But what's more important to us is to change the political norms that we have in Malaysia,
09:30moving away from, you know, individual based politics, moving away from just looking at one
09:38figure, moving away from the kind of old politics that have patronage that have the kind of bureaucracy,
09:45we want to dismantle. Well, you don't allow room for younger people, you don't allow room for
09:51women, you don't allow room for people from different races and backgrounds to thrive in
09:56politics. We want to get rid of all that. And this is a prime moment for Muda to prove in,
10:01not just in our party, but to the whole of political landscape that Malaysian politics can be different.
10:07Right. So you said, so now the new leaders, these leaders are the ones shaping what Muda has become
10:15or is right now. I'm curious to know what that is, because at the beginning of our conversation,
10:20Amira, you mentioned that Muda is changing away from just being a kind of movement party to
10:26more, a more established political party. So you started out as a youth move,
10:33youth driven reform movement. Now that the party's maturing six years in, how do you balance that
10:39movement energy, that activist energy with this desire, the need to build a durable party heading
10:47into GE16? Where is the party right now? What is the core identity of Muda today, 2026?
10:55Well, I myself begin my journey in politics as a youth activist. And so I understand the importance
11:00of movements. I understand that movements can shake the ground. And when we look at any kind
11:06of changes that happen, not just in Malaysia, but in the world, it started with youth movements.
11:11It can really shake the ground and make people listen to what's really important. But at the end of
11:15the day, after the ground has been shaken, you need institutions to stabilize the ground back.
11:21And that is why Muda exists. Muda exists beyond just a youth movement. Muda exists as a political
11:26party to be able to stabilize the institution, while also not losing the youth vigor that we have from
11:33the very beginning. Where Muda is right now, we just launched our ideology back in 2024, which is
11:39social democracy ideology. We have tightened and strengthened our political education through
11:44choker by Muda. We have introduced Skolah Muda or our political school so that all our members,
11:50they are more attached to the ideology that we are fighting for. They understand better the policies
11:55that we want to champion for. And they really embrace the fact of what we want to do of politics
12:01of service and politics of policy. This is all something that we have been doing quietly, but also
12:07rigorously in the past three years, so that Muda facing general election 16, Muda can really show
12:14itself as a viable option for Malaysians, not just to become opposition, but a viable option to become
12:20government one day. I think this is a very important stage for Muda to really show people that we're not
12:25just
12:26young people making noises, but we are diverse Malaysians coming from different race, different religion,
12:32different gender, different class background, different education background, who wants to make
12:38Malaysia as a place where all Malaysians can live dignifiedly regardless of who you are.
12:43Amira, I think there are a few maybe members of the public who aren't sure where Muda sits on the
12:48political spectrum or the political landscape. They don't know whether Muda is opposition or opposition
12:54aligned or government. Can you clarify, how does the party define its position today in Malaysia's political landscape?
13:01Yeah. As of right now, Muda is neither with any, we were not in any big coalition. I think many
13:10people
13:10might have also forgotten that in 2022, after we won the general election 15, we were attached to the
13:16unity government. And this is something that is a huge thing for Muda because as a new party, you are
13:23in
13:23a federal government that opens a lot of doors for Muda to actually be in position of power. But we
13:30had our
13:30red line drawn at that point of time. We knew that if the current government supported
13:35kleptocrats, if the current government do not change the way politics happen where rampant bribery is
13:44being let loose and people are just being left, people are being let loose from their criminal charges
13:51just because they are in power. And so when Dato Sri Zaid Hamideh, who is our current Deputy Prime
13:56Minister, received dismissal not amounting to acquittal for his 47 charges, Muda pulled our support from
14:04the government. But we didn't join any opposition coalition because we believe that the ideology of
14:10Muda and the ideology of the bigger coalition in opposition is not aligned. At the same time,
14:16we understand that the role of Muda currently in opposition is also to become the check and balance
14:22for the government. If you ask me where Muda stands right now is that our loyalty has always
14:27been to the principles that guide us. Our loyalty has always been to the people who voted us in.
14:32We will support when government does something that we really think is important for the people.
14:38For example, the two terms Prime Minister RUU, that was the bill that was presented before this.
14:46Muda decided, although we are in opposition, we decided to support that bill. When government
14:52proposed a bill that is against the spirit of the people, that is against what Muda wants to champion,
14:57for example, the regressive bill on citizenship, we decided to oppose that particular bill. So if you ask me
15:04where Muda stands, we are sitting in opposition, but where our loyalty stands is really with the
15:08people and not with any single coalition. Amira, thank you so much for being on the show today.
15:14Amira Aisyah Abdul Aziz, Acting President of Muda, co-founder of the party. We're going to take a quick
15:19break and speak to a Vice President of the party after this. Stay tuned, we'll be right back.