Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman leaves the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex July 22, 2021. — Picture by Firdaus Latif
KOTA KINABALU, July 22 — The criminal breach of trust charges against Muar MP Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman is a political assassination attempt against the young leader who has refused to support the Perikatan Nasional government, said Parti Warisan Sabah.
The opposition party’s secretary general Datuk Loretto Padua Jr said that the timing of the charges was telling, and commended the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) leader for holding steadfast to his principles.
“What is clear is that the charges were brought against him after he repeatedly rejected overtures and threats asking him to throw support behind PN.
“If the younger generation of Malaysians are as principled and hold steadfast to their principles, I believe there is hope for Malaysia yet,” he said.
He said that although Syed Saddiq is young, he has to be strong in facing injustice, and that he is not alone in this as the public also despise oppression.
“History has proven that rulers who abuse their power or use it for oppression will be rejected by the people.
“Warisan has been through similar incident under the Umno BN rule and faced a lot of heat when it did not go along,” he said, naming party president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, vice-president Datuk Peter Anthony and youth wing chief Datuk Azis Jamman as examples of those who went through similar experiences.
“But they held strong and came out of it, so do not be afraid.
“It is now clear as day that the PN government is not only failing to run the country, but also abusing their power,” said Padua.
Earlier today, Syed Saddiq, a former youth and sports minister, was charged at the Sessions Court in Kuala Lumpur with criminal breach of trust involving RM1 million belonging to Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia — which he allegedly withdrew from a bank in March 2020.
Syed Saddiq was additionally hit with a second charge of misappropriating RM120,000 from the party’s election coffers in 2018.
He pleaded not guilty to both charges.