1. Syed Saddiq bin Syed Abdul Rahman is a Malaysian politician and convicted criminal who has served as the Member of Parliament for Muar since May 2018.
42 Facts About Syed Saddiq
1. 2.
Syed Saddiq served as the Minister of Youth and Sports in the Pakatan Harapan administration under former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad from July 2018 to the collapse of the PH administration in February 2020, thus making him the youngest federal minister in Malaysian history.
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Syed Saddiq is a founding member of the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance and served as its 1st President from September 2020 until November 2023.
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Syed Saddiq was a founding member of the Malaysian United Indigenous Party, a former component party of the PH coalition and served as 1st Youth Chief of BERSATU from the founding in September 2016 to his removal from the party in May 2020.
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Syed Saddiq is presently the third youngest MP at the age of 32 after Sungai Petani MP Mohammed Taufiq Johari and Batu MP Prabakaran Parameswaran.
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In 2021, Syed Saddiq was charged with several counts of corruption, including criminal breach of trust, misappropriation of funds, and money laundering.
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Syed Saddiq immediately resigned as the MUDA president following his conviction and was replaced by his deputy, Amira Aisya Abdul Aziz as the acting president.
8.
Syed Saddiq's father is a Singaporean Malay of Arab descent, who used to work as a construction worker in Singapore.
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Syed Saddiq is widely known in the debating community after having won Asia's Best Speaker award at the Asian British Parliamentary Debating Championship three times.
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In 2015, Syed Saddiq served as Perdana Fellow to Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Nancy Shukri.
11.
Syed Saddiq was the leader of ARMADA ; the youth wing of the BERSATU.
12.
Syed Saddiq was a spokesperson for the party since its inception in September 2016 and was considered one of the founding members and sat on the party council.
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Syed Saddiq made his debut contesting the 2018 general election for the Muar parliamentary seat and was elected to the Parliament.
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Syed Saddiq was then appointed as the Minister of Youth and Sports in the PH new government making him the youngest ever federal minister in 2018 since Malaysia's independence.
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Syed Saddiq is the youngest cabinet Minister to be appointed at the age of 25 as well as the third youngest MP after 2018-elected Prabakaran Parameswaran and 1976-elected Najib Razak since Independence in the history of Malaysia.
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In July 2019, Syed Saddiq tabled a Bill in Parliament to amend the Federal Constitution to lower the voting age to 18 but it was withdrawn and re-tabled later after it was tweaked to accommodate some changes.
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Syed Saddiq became an Independent in May 2020 after being terminated as a member and first youth chief of the Malaysian United Indigenous Party, which was a component party of the then-ruling Pakatan Harapan coalition.
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On 17 September 2020, Syed Saddiq launched and co-founded the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance and was officially registered as political party on 23 December 2021.
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Syed Saddiq was charged with another accusation of misappropriating RM120,000 in BERSATU donation money intended for the 2018 general election.
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Syed Saddiq had claimed trial to both counts of corruption and was released on bail of RM330,000 with additional conditions.
21.
Syed Saddiq claimed that the allegations were brought against him because he refused to back the Perikatan Nasional administration.
22.
Syed Saddiq claimed that Wan Ahmad Fayhsal, the BERSATU youth chief, came to his house before he was accused and persuaded him to rejoin BERSATU and support Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister.
23.
On 5 July 2022, a witness, Rafiq Hakim Razali, in Syed Saddiq's trial said that Saddiq asked him to dispose of part of the RM1 million Bersatu funds.
24.
On 19 July 2022, an MACC officer, Khairi claimed that the MACC is investigating Syed Saddiq for making false statements about RM250,000 that went missing.
25.
Gobind Singh Deo, Syed Saddiq's lawyer, cross-examined Khairi and said that the act of going to Syed Saddiq's house was an abuse of power by MACC.
26.
On 9 November 2023, Syed Saddiq was found guilty of all the corruption charges by the High Court, sentencing him to 7 years' imprisonment, a RM 10 million fine and two strokes of the cane.
27.
Syed Saddiq was granted a stay of execution of his sentence while pending his appeal.
28.
On 12 December 2024, it was reported that Syed Saddiq filed his petition through his lawyers, listing 18 reasons why he should be freed from the graft case.
29.
Syed Saddiq has been vocal in his support for Palestine and criticism of Israel.
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Syed Saddiq has stated that Palestine existed long before Israel, and criticised Israel for illegally appointing themselves as the "guardians" of Palestine.
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Syed Saddiq stands firm with Malaysia's ban on Israeli athletes, and has called for the freedom of Palestine.
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In July 2018, Syed Saddiq faced criticism after his personal aide, Numan Afifi, resigned due to his involvement in LGBT activism.
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Syed Saddiq is an avid social media user and regularly posts about political and social issues in Malaysia.
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In September 2015, Syed Saddiq said he would "teach" Nurul Hidayah, the daughter of ex-Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who criticized participants in the Bersih 4.0 demonstration.
35.
In November 2015, Syed Saddiq admitted that he had supported Najib Razak, but later said Najib had embarrassed the country because of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal.
36.
Syed Saddiq defended the actions of four academics who allegedly submitted an executive summary on the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to the Conference of Rulers and insisted their actions were part of the academic freedom promised by Pakatan Harapan in celebrating democracy and differences of opinion in Malaysia.
37.
Syed Saddiq continues by saying "police brutality is a serious issue" and then he begins to list the names of the men that have died in police custody from the year 2009 to 2021.
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Syed Saddiq then ends the video by encouraging viewers to "push for the IPCMC bill and to push for justice".
39.
Previously, Syed Saddiq has been in a relationship with a lawyer, Abe Lim Hooi Sean, from 2023.
40.
Syed Saddiq used to participate in the 2023 Selangor state election for the Bandar Utama seat as a MUDA candidate.
41.
Syed Saddiq appeared in one of Bella's music videos as a cameo, titled "Tapi Bukan Denganmu".
42.
Syed Saddiq managed to secure RM1 million in donations for Muar.