An open letter to Syed Saddiq

Dear young man,

You have finally been charged in court with the misappropriation of money, a very serious charge for an elected official.

You screamed foul, you claimed victimisation, you said this was a political charge.

Unfortunately this is the exact script used by Najib Razak, Zahid Hamidi, Lim Guan Eng, Ku Nan – basically any politician who wishes to avoid the political backlash from being charged with stealing money or corruption.

Listen young man, it’s quite a different thing to be charged with sedition or unlawful assembly – that’s undeniable political persecution.

Your charge is quite another matter; like Guan Eng or Ku Nan, it involves the malfeasance of monies. You have to show the falsity of the charge in court. Yelling political persecution may sway your hardcore supporters and they will crowdfund you. But it will never clear your reputation.

You also complained that the prosecution had in fact issued the order to prosecute in August 2020. You attempted to suggest that the timing of your charge was suspect since it’s less than a week before Parliament.

Young man, don’t you think that’s a bit far-fetched and contradictory?

Parliament sat in November 2020, and the government faced many challenges including threats from the court cluster to pull their support.

So why weren’t you charged then?

Another thing, why do you insist on crowdfunding for legal fees?

Why should the ordinary people pay you their hard-earned money for your misappropriation case?

Why are your lawyers charging such fees? Since it’s a political case, and we know they are well-known political lawyers, why should they charge you at all?

Don’t they believe it’s political persecution?

Why did you instruct your lawyers to counter-offer a hefty RM300,000 for bail when the prosecution offered RM500,000?

If I were you, I would have chosen not to pay at all and be prepared to go to jail!

Like Gandhi or Mandela. You orate like them, why not also do as they did? That would make your cliched cry of “berani kerana benar” more real.

Anyway, my letter is to give you some fatherly advice.

Leave your court case to your lawyers to handle. Stop the victimisation speeches.

You may be innocent, you may be found guilty.

You should continue doing your job as a member of Parliament, speaking out for the rakyat, pushing for real reforms – the very reforms that were promised but not carried out by the government you were part of for 22 months.

Giving aid to your constituents etc is all well and good, but it seems no good deed can be done these days without a media or social media splash.

Do not let all the virtual praise and support go to your head.

You have potential, but don’t force people to accept you as a saint when there’s certainly a taint.

Good luck.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of MalaysiaNow.