GE15 is a different ball game, will Muda-PH pact thrive or die?

SHAH ALAM - The Muda and Pakatan Harapan (PH) alliance may seem promising as Muda is a brand new party that appeals to the younger voters.

However, the question was to what extent will their influence be successfully manifested in the ballot box.

Political analyst from Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) Muhammad Fuad Othman said Muda’s alliance with PH could grant them the possibility of having a good percentage of voters but may not necessarily win seats in the 15th General Election (GE15).

“General elections are a different ball game because there are two stages of thinking, the federal issue and the local issue,” he told Sinar Daily.

He said it would depend on which issue would entice the people to vote for Muda, especially the younger voters.

He acknowledged that there had been some who may agree with Muda’s ideas and want to champion them, but the problem was whether they have the confidence in Muda to be their voice in Parliament.

He said Muda might stand a chance with the new and first-time voters as most of them were from the younger demographic.

“With the new and first-time voters coming in, obviously Muda has a place there,” he said.

On how would people be able to differentiate between Muda and youth components of other parties, Fuad said the issue would not matter as the people will make their choice based on the pact.

“If Muda agrees to use the PH logo then it doesn't matter because if they align themselves with PH, the people will choose based on the pact,” he said.

Political expert Azmi Hassan said the alliance would be good in theory for PH to attract voters from the Undi18 category.

However, observing the voting results from the Johor state election, it did not demonstrate that Muda could attract young voters towards PH despite already partially working with them at that time.

“Muda is seen as a party that is full of ideals and comprised the younger generation without any political abilities,” he said.

Azmi also said there should be no issues in differentiating the candidates from Muda and other youth components of other parties as they will all be using the same symbol.

Meanwhile, another political analyst from UUM Professor Zainal Kling who said he felt unsure of the alliance’s impact on the youth today.

This, he said was because it was unclear what Muda was really fighting for.

“I suppose the image of Muda is not that good and at the same time, they are not very cohesive in their approach to certain issues,” he said.

Zainal said Muda would be more distinctive and distinguishable compared to other youth wings.

Even so, he said that other youth wings could be better because they were already in an established political party.