HAVING come under fire by all levels of Malaysians for being “the epitome of disharmony in Malaysia”, UMNO Youth chief Datuk Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh has again displayed his disrespectful demeanour by picking a fight with his own party’s senior Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz.
This came about after the Padang Rengas UMNO division chief dismissed Akmal as a future prime ministerial candidate while claiming that the youth leader did not represent the majority voice of the party.
In retaliation, the self-proclaimed Malay and Muslim matter champion/defender rebutted that the present UMNO Youth wing is not a bootlicker as he (Nazri) is, potentially alluding to Nazri sucking up to the Madani government.
‘If we’re considered to represent only a small portion of the Malay voice, are you implying that you represent the majority of the Malay voice?” the Merlimau state assemblyman hit back in a Facebook post.
“Maybe you have forgotten that you are no longer in America because your contract has not been renewed. I want to remind you that you are now in Malaysia where the majority race is Malay and Islam is the federal religion.”
And the tongue lashing that the former tourism and culture minister gets from someone who can easily qualify to be his son given the 34-year age gap between them only gets deeper:
“So it’s our responsibility as UMNO youth to take care of them (race and religious matters) and to defend them,” asserted Akmal.
“Sorry Datuk Seri, we in UMNO Youth are not sycophants … We’ve a responsibility to take care of the nation’s religion rather than bootlicking for personal gain.
“Do go ahead if you wish to be a sycophant … (but) don’t compare yourself to us … who knows if you might even become an ambassador to Myanmar next.”
Earlier, Nazri has told Malaysiakini in an interview that his focus upon his return from the US is on supporting Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and ensuring the PKR president will remain in Putrajaya after the 16th General Election (GE16).
Akmal’s name then popped up when Nazri was asked whether his concerns on the lack of a potential successor for Anwar extended to within UMNO.
Saddened that “our system has not allowed for grooming of intellectually good leaders who don’t play on race, religion”, Nazri took a jab at Akmal by pointing out that the Russian-trained medical doctor represents only “one quarter” out of four UMNO wings, hence, the latter’s views on various issues should not be regarded as a majority voice. – Feb 24, 2025
