Dr M's criticism of youth party idea accepted with open heart, says Syed Saddiq

PETALING JAYA: Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman (pic) says he accepts with an open heart former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's criticism of his idea of forming a youth-centric party.

The Muar MP, who was the youth and sports minister under the Pakatan Harapan administration, thanked Dr Mahathir for the feedback.

"Thank you, Tun. We accept the criticism with an open heart," he said in a post on Twitter on Thursday (Sept 3).

Syed Saddiq's tweet was in response to the remarks made by Dr Mahathir, who said he had doubts the newly proposed youth-centric political party would be successful in gaining the support of the people at the polls.

"Although youth represents a very big portion among the electorates, it is not enough for the party to win (the election).

"In any constituency, there are old and the young among the electorates," said the Langkawi MP.

He said a political party had to appeal broadly to people of all ages.

"We (Pejuang) are going to appeal to the young (in the election) as well. Hence, it is difficult for him (Syed Saddiq and his new youth party) to succeed," said Dr Mahathir.

Syed Saddiq in his response also said "this is a party led by youths for all Malaysians."

"The majority of those who will lead will comprise young technocrats, professionals, entrepreneurs, modern farmers, civil society leaders and others.

"We may be young, but we love Malaysia," he said.

Syed Saddiq had, prior to this, said that the new party would be modelled after France’s En Marche and the now-defunct Future Forward Party (FFP) of Thailand.