I've been consistent all this while, Syed Saddiq tells critics urging him to vacate Muar seat

PETALING JAYA: Amid calls for him to vacate the Muar parliamentary seat after leaving the unity government, Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman has asked his critics to “buy a mirror”.

He said that he had contested under the Muda banner while standing up for causes such as anti-corruption and the strengthening of public institutions, adding that he has stayed true to his platform all this while.

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“Buy a mirror. Are you ready to vacate your seats?

“I have been consistent until this day. Who are the ones who are not consistent?

"I’m not the one who dropped the cases of corruption,” said Syed Saddiq during a virtual town hall session on Sunday (Sept 10) hours after Muda announced its departure from the unity government.

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Earlier, calls for Syed Saddiq to vacate the Muar parliamentary seat, which he has held since May 2018, had grown after Muda announced it was quitting the unity government, which the party panned for abandoning its promises of reforms after a discharge not amounting to acquittal (DNAA) was granted to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on his 47 corruption charges.

Among those who made such calls were PKR Youth information chief Haziq Azfar Ishak, who said the Muar seat won by Syed Saddiq was contributed by the strength of support, machinery and influence from Pakatan Harapan, which signed an electoral pact with Muda in last year’s 15th General Election (GE15).

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Haziq said Syed Saddiq’s failure to vacate the seat was an act of hijacking the Muar seat by making it a third force and a disobedience to the mandate of the people in the Muar Parliament who chose Muda due to the electoral pact with Pakatan.

Umno supreme council member Datuk Lokman Adam, meanwhile, equated Syed Saddiq’s stance of leaving the unity government as the same as the actions of Barisan Nasional and Pakatan MPs who switched parties.

Lokman said this was because Syed Saddiq won in GE15 due to the electoral pact with Pakatan, which did not field a candidate against him.

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It was also reported that several other Pakatan Harapan MPs had also urged Syed Saddiq to vacate his seat.

Meanwhile, DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke also said that Syed Saddiq did not win the Muar seat on his own merit in GE15.

Loke said he had won with the support of Pakatan and DAP.