Can Malaysia’s Muda recover from ‘strategic mistake’ after humiliation at state polls?

Muda lost all 19 seats it contested and also fell behind Malaysia’s ageing stalwarts in the battle for influence on TikTok

While some said Muda had itself to blame for a ‘confusing’ campaign and decision to burn bridges with PM Anwar, one analyst says the bruising is a chance for a ‘hard reset’

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Muda, which was meant to reach young voters and steer Malaysian politics away from the ageing stalwarts lost all 19 seats it contested in last week’s state elections. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 11:30am, 19 Aug 2023Updated: 12:55pm, 19 Aug 2023

Billed as an antidote to Malaysia’s noxious old politics and inspired by Thailand’s radical youth-focused Move Forward Party, the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) was meant to reach young voters – instead it was humiliated in last weekend’s state elections, losing all 19 seats it contested.

Formed in 2020, Muda drew inspiration from Move Forward, a political movement up against similarly entrenched powers which scored an odds-defying victory in May elections.

The party’s aim is to steer Malaysian politics away from the ageing stalwarts who have long dominated the country’s political narrative and swapped leadership positions for decades.

But the electoral wipeout last Saturday, garnering only 30,000 of 9.7 million votes cast, has – at least for now – laid waste to the call for a “new politics” by Muda’s co-founder and poster boy Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.

Muda’s Syed Saddiq at a protest in September 2022 against the timing of Malaysia’s general election. Photo: X

The abysmal showing also cast light on a flawed campaign which many criticised as both amateurish and out of touch.