Puad cautions Syed Saddiq over perils of chasing popularity

Umno leader Puad Zarkashi expressed his sympathies to Muar MP Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman for his triathlon bungle which has landed him the title “DNF (did not finish) champion”.

“I sympathise with Syed Saddiq. He is a young politician with a lot of problems.

“Now he is dubbed ‘DNF (did not finish) champion’. His victory was cancelled. This is what happens when politicians are obsessed with being populist.

“He ran from Muar to Parliament to raise funds, but his latest case has smeared Parliament’s good name. Luckily, Syed Saddiq did not announce his victory in Parliament,” he said on Facebook.

Puad (above), who is Rengit assemblyperson, said Syed Saddiq’s triathlon bungle has tarnished public trust in young MPs and leaders.

“He said the rakyat are facing difficulties but here, an elected representative ‘did not finish’? He has tarnished public trust in young leaders,” he said.

Didn’t complete a lap

Syed Saddiq yesterday apologised for a mistake during a Johor Bahru triathlon last Saturday, which resulted in him initially declared to have won the third spot.

After another participant challenged the victory, the former Muda president cross-checked his performance with the organiser, who found he did not complete the entire race.

Syed Saddiq said the mistake happened in the cycling portion, and it was spotted after he tallied his data with the organiser’s data.

The dispute happened after the MP shared on social media a photograph of participating in the 131km race, which involved a 2.25km swim and 90km bicycle ride, followed by a final 21.1km run.

He said he was proud to have completed the race in five hours and 44 minutes.

However, an Instagram user commented that this was because Syed Saddiq had only completed two laps on the bicycle, or 60km, instead of the required 90km.

On July 30, Syed Saddiq ran from Muar to the Parliament building in Kuala Lumpur about 200km away, to raise more than RM100,000 for his constituency.

He called the run “Langkah Muar”, and said it was a form of protest against the government’s failure to allocate equal funding to opposition constituencies.

Government MPs receive grants of RM20 million each to disburse to their constituency members.

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