KUALA LUMPUR: Muar member of parliament Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman successfully completed his 200-kilometre (km) 'Langkah Muar' protest run that began on Friday.
Syed Saddiq started the protest run from his constituency to the Parliament building in Kuala Lumpur to urge the government to give allocations to opposition MPs.
The former president of the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) arrived at his destination at 9.30am today, raising RM160,000 after three days of running.
When met by reporters outside of Parliament, Syed Saddiq said the protest run was not a 'hyperpartisan' push but was carried out based on the principle of justice where assistance should be provided to lawmakers, regardless of religion, race or political affiliation.
"If we look at it today, if you are in a government constituency for one term, you will get RM20 million, but in an opposition parliament, there is basically none given to operate service centres, pay staff, provide welfare assistance. All of this is nonexistent.
"This is why this matter (protest run) is crucial and I started this small effort in Muar first to demand this fair allocation.
"Do not use the excuse of negotiations because we have already negotiated. I can say that we have also negotiated many times and I feel this is no longer a matter of negotiation, but a matter of political revenge, punishing the opposition constituency and this is wrong," he said.
Also present were Machang MP Wan Ahmad Fayshal Wan Ahmad Kamal, Arau MP Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim and Ketereh MP Datuk Khlir Mohd Nor.
Syed Saddiq began his run on Friday to demand a parliamentary allocation of RM4 million annually or RM20 million per term, as received by government MPs. Within 48 hours of running, he also hit his RM100,000 target.
Previously, he said, the run was also aimed at raising RM100,000 for the Muar service centre to ensure it could continue operating and assisting people.
Syed Saddiq started his run at Jambatan Sultan Ibrahim Muar to Telok Mas with a distance of 39km and from Telok Mas to Alor Gajah, Melaka, covering 34km on Friday.
On Saturday, Syed Saddiq continued running from Alor Gajah to Rembau, Negri Sembilan about 30km and continued running to Seremban, covering 23.5km.
Yesterday, he ran from Seremban to Semenyih, Selangor, covering 39km starting and continued running to Jalan Tun Hussein Onn, Kuala Lumpur, covering another 20km.
He also continued running 20km today starting at 6.30am and reached the Parliament building at 9.30am.
