Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman went from hero after criticising Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to zero for taking a swipe at DAP and its lawmaker Tony Pua as far as netizens were concerned.

Following the negative comments, Syed Saddiq, known as Asia's top debater, said he learned a new lesson - he is a fusion of 'BN macai (lackey)' and 'opposition macai'.

"When I critique the government of the day, I am an 'opposition macai'. When I critique the opposition of the day, I am a 'BN macai'," he said in a Facebook posting.

However, Syed Sadiq (photo) stressed that he is not a 'macai' for any political party.

"If any, I am a 'Malaysian macai'. No one can buy my soul," he added.

He also pointed out that no political party is perfect nor should any one of them be free of public scrutiny.

"Criticisms shouldn't be primarily judged on the artificial (often inaccurate) labelling ascribed to the person; instead it should be based on the content of that criticism.

"Let's stop pigeonholing Malaysians. Let's stop arbitrarily putting people into political boxes, unless those boxes serve the interest of all. Unless the box is labelled, Malaysia," he said.

Earlier, Syed Saddiq criticised DAP's ‘half-hearted’ challenge to take on 1MDB president and group executive director Arul Kanda Kandasamy in a debate.

This was after DAP organising secretary Anthony Loke today said it would not allow Pua to quit the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in order to take on Arul Kanda.

Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia has insisted that Pua, as a member of the PAC, cannot debate Arul Kanda as 1MDB is a subject of the committee's investigation.

However, Syed Saddiq said Pua was well aware of the consequences when he pressed for a showdown with Arul Kanda.

The fourth-year law student said DAP now appears to be finding a way out from what could possibly be a humiliating defeat against Arul Kanda, who himself is a top debater.

"You claim that your knight's position on the PAC is more important, yet this stance was only taken after you found out that the 'joker' was audacious enough to accept your veiled challenge.

"Why wasn't this brought up when the challenge was first made? Why delay this stance? Why only manifest this after the ‘joker’ accepted the challenge?

"It's either your knight is the actual coward, or his fortress (DAP) is filled by opportunists who only know how to execute a fake half-hearted challenge," he said.

Previously, Syed Saddiq had also launched a stinging criticism of Najib whom he described as a ‘national disgrace’ over his scandals and crackdown.