BRIGHT NEW HORIZON

In a rare joint interview, MUDA members Abe Lim and Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman open up about youth politics, what young people really want from their leaders, and what drives them as public servants of their generation.

- ANANDHI GOPINATH

What would make a law graduate and debating champion abandon the idea of a successful corporate career for a life in politics? You’d have to be bold and idealistic, principled, and passionate, and perhaps a little crazy. You’d also have to be at the right place at the right time.

In 2018, when the then 25-year-old Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman was at the crossroads many young people are when it comes to making major career decisions, global politics strongly suggested that the world’s young people were increasingly disengaged from political life. They were voting less, rejecting party membership, and telling researchers that their country’s leaders weren’t working in their interests, which was a gap Saddiq wanted to fill here in Malaysia.

Five years later, the Muar MP and Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (MUDA) president estimates that, collectively, we are about halfway there. “I believe there is still a huge gap in having young leaders not just treated as leaders of tomorrow, but leaders of today,” he says. “We need to have young leaders who focus on policies and data-driven debates to turbocharge Malaysia into becoming a developed country.”

Charming and polished, Saddiq says all the right things in his trademark debater tones. Fellow MUDA member Abe Lim, a law graduate, entrepreneur, and climate activist who stood for the Bandar Utama seat in the recent elections, makes the same point differently. “Young people often feel disconnected because they struggle to relate,” Abe points out. “The older generation treats mental health and climate change as afterthoughts, while they’re stuck in repetitive political battles that don’t resonate with the young. The challenges of our time demand more than just passive acceptance; they demand proactive change.”