Syed Saddiq apologises over ‘macai politik’ remark

KUALA LUMPUR: Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman yesterday apologised for labelling certain youth associations as ‘macai politik’ or political minions.

Syed Saddiq pointed out that the remark was only directed at associations that openly supported political parties, especially during the campaign period for the 14th General Election (GE14).

“I’m sorry for ‘stereotyping’ this issue, it’s not right for all youths and associations to be called ‘macai’. It (the label ‘macai politik’) should only be directed to the leaders of youth associations who have given open ‘endorsements’ to Barisan Nasional (BN) and who at the same time issued statements like without BN or UMNO Youth, the associations would be non-existent.

“I would like to emphasise that under the new leadership of the ministry, associations do not have to openly support the government, and I’d prefer if they genuinely criticised the government over what they liked and did not like,” he said.

He was speaking to reporters after attending a meeting with the leadership of the Malaysian Youth Council (MYC) yesterday. MYC deputy president Mohd Zaidi Aziz was also present.

At the press conference, Mohd Zaidi also acknowledged the fact and apologised to all parties over MYC explicitly throwing its support behind the previous government in GE14.

Meanwhile, commenting on the Pakatan Harapan government’s 100-day manifesto, Syed Saddiq said the government should provide an explanation and be honest to the people if there were items which required more time to implement.

“The people have the right to know the position of the PH manifestos, if there is a manifesto yet to be fulfilled, the government needs to be frank... people are constantly watching and evaluating,” he said.

In another development, Syed Saddiq pointed out that the ministry would not agree if any action was taken against Dr Nur Ilyani Mohamed Nawawi, a medical officer at Raja Perempuan Zainab II Hospital who voiced out her opinion over the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues.

“If there is any disciplinary action taken against the medical officer, I will personally speak out against it as she is entitled to give her personal views,” he said. Dr Nur Ilyani had written an open letter on her Facebook page on Aug 6, addressing Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir, a political activist who stood up for the LGBT community when some portraits of LGBT activists were removed from a recent photography exhibition.

On Sunday, Kelantan Muslimat PAS chief Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff in a press statement urged the Ministry of Health not to take any disciplinary action against Dr Nur Ilyani after it was alleged that certain parties had lodged complaints about the matter to the Public Complaints Bureau.