Syed Saddiq is trending on Malaysian Twitter.
He got heckled by Azeez Rahim and Shahidan Kassim.
News broke out that he's forming a new party as he decided not to join Pejuang, the new Malay party formed by Tun Mahathir. It's a game changer in Malaysian politics but...

The challenges of forming a political party in this country are many. One, most of the new parties were formed by splinters within a core party. AMANAH was formed by a splinter group from PAS. PKR's early incarnation KeAdilan was formed by supporters of Anwar Ibrahim.

Even UMNO on it's current form was actually a phoenix party. It's like AFC Wimbledon, formed after the dissolution of Wimbledon FC, which was franchised and moved to Milton Keynes as MK Dons. UMNO Baru was formed after the original UMNO was banned because of internal infighting

Saddiq is very popular among neutrals. However, if Saddiq managed to move away from the shadows of Tun Mahathir, I believe it's going to be a very bold and very smart move. His announcement came at a very interesting time indeed.

Perikatan Nasional's popularity is seemed to be waning and it is slowly disappearing very fast. At first, they were very popular, given that the stimulus handouts and measures taken during PKP period proved effective as Malaysia has low case numbers. However, things started bad.

PN buat macam-macam perangai during PKP and the COVID-19 pandemic. From disobeying PKP and got away with it with lesser punishments, to political moves and taking up posts in which many people were frustrated as politicians do political stuff while many people were struggling.

The one yang orang paling menyirap is Khairuddin Takiri. A Minister from PAS, sengaja langgar kuarantin, tak mengaku, sombong pulak tu. Lepas kantoi and orang pressure kaw2, boleh pulak menghaku salah and sedekahkan gaji 4 bulan. Ada pulak orang PN tunggang sekali back up.

Saddiq pulak kat dalam Dewan Rakyat kena herdik dan kena maki dengan Ahli Parlimen PN yang boomer, lagi makin orang naik darah. Apatah lagi perangai MP Kerajaan, dapat balik kuasa, naik balik kepala.

This is why Saddiq's move is a game changer. It's the same anger that brought Najib's BN down. People were fed up with establishment politics. Tambah lagi main naratif mengarut, dan juga perangai politisyen back up rakan-rakan politisyen yang salah guna kuasa.

It is important for Saddiq to realise that political sentiments will eventually cool down. Unless he will not bow down to any opportunistic political careerists from tainting the party and moving away from age old tradition of stratified and hierarchy politics.

So, what segment of society should Saddiq target?
We might wait and see. Given Malaysian political thoughts and narratives all depend on demographics, education and class, I might make a view on this. And it might be unpopular but i'll keep in constructive.

His new party should be clear on ideology. If he relied on the current narratives without being consistent with ideology, his party might be irrelevant in the next 2 election cycles. Given Malaysian politics is full of boomers, PRU15 is a good time for them to prove themselves.

This new party should brush off the scepticism that its an urban party. But again, we might never know, Malaysian politics is stratified, so if this party decided to contest in suburban and urban areas, they might have a chance to win, as many young voters are electorates.

They must uphold their fight against racism. Racism is a cancer to Malaysian politics. It's very prevalent in certain factions in BN, DAP and also in other parties as well. If Saddiq commits to anti racism, hence he will get big support from all Malaysians.

This new party must know how to tackle the 3Rs. Kalau depa pandai, maka politik nasionalisme Melayu akan cari cara untuk berubah. PH gagal dalam handle benda ni, sebab tu nasionalisme Melayu bergerak makin ke kanan. Maka parti baru ini ada tanggungjawab besar.

Tambah pulak, parti baru ni kena hadap pengundi Melayu. Tak boleh perli atau memperkecilkan pandangan mereka. Kalau Saddiq dah boleh attract Melayu atas pagar, mereka kena jugak hadap pengundi Melayu yang konservatif, tradisionalis dan terasing secara demographically.

Jangan main politik wang. Kalau dah main, maka politik Malaysia tak akan kemana. Politik wang itu juga kanser. Jangan sanggup gadai maruah dan prinsip demi jawatan, undi dalam pemilihan parti dan juga jawatan dalam Kerajaan.

Last but not least, make sure it is a true youth-centric party. Set an age limit and term limits as well. Create caucuses in the party not party wings in which hierarchy is paramount. Harap jangan tiru idea politik lama.

Kalau parti baru Saddiq ini berjaya, ini akan memaksa parti-parti politik yang dipenuhi dengan orang tua untuk mengubah strategi mereka. Bergerak kedepan, pengundi bawah 40 tahun akan melangkaui bilangan pengundi tua. I wish the best of luck to you @SyedSaddiq. God speed