KUALA LUMPUR: Wunderkind politician and secret glamour model Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman was nearly drowned by opprobrium when he shared an allegedly risqué image of himself soaking in a bathtub over the weekend (the baby-faced MP was basically thrown out with the bathwater).
The barely-legal Youth and Sports Minister – whose mother is still in confinement from having him – is accustomed to being bathed with attention on social media, but his most recent missive on Twitter and Instagram was a cold shower for some of his 600,000 ardent followers, whose furious denunciations forced him to pull the plug on the post.
The now-deleted splashy image of the celebrity lawmaker shows him shirtless, with only a pair football shorts over three-quarter anti-abrasion football leggings on, sitting upright in a bathtub half-filled with clumps of melting ice.
According to The Star, the photo was taken (by the ice delivery man?) on National Sports Day 2018 on Oct 13, shortly after a friendly football match in which Syed Saddiq led his Choice team to victory.
To recover from the punishing game, the Muar Member of Parliament decided to undergo ice-cold water therapy – a common practice which offers relief for muscle pain and soreness, but which, judging by Syed Saddiq’s gallstone-passing grimace, tends to freeze one’s footballs off.
The photo was accompanied by the triumphant caption: “After scoring the golden goal, (one has to) soak (oneself) in ice. Good game.”
But a herd of netizens weren’t game with seeing a Cabinet member in what they felt was a compromising situation (oh my God, he has nipples!) and began pelting him with everything but the (bathroom) sink. (You would think Syed Saddiq had been celebrating scoring a golden shower instead of a goal).
According to the World of Buzz, the toilet flush of condemnations included apoplectic tweets such as: “Is this the kind of example you want to set for youngsters? Is this what Malaysia wants in a leader? I feel that there’s no need to post such a photo on social media”; and “I think there’s no reason to tweet this. Come on, bro, behave yourself.”
As mentioned, Syed Saddiq’s post melted like ice and evaporated completely from the heat of social media users’ outrage – thus depriving many an infatuated teen girl, young woman and brazen cougar the chance to warm themselves by gazing at the minister’s prominent six pack.
A six pack which loudly and appropriately screams YOUTH and SPORTS (minister).
I think that it’s censorious, finger-wagging haters who should keep their shirts on, not Syed Saddiq (unless he’s debating in Parliament, of course).
So just chill, people (in some ice).
Editor's note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times.