AN unapologetic UMNO Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh has lived up to his #nofearnosurrender tagline by meting out legal action for defamatory remarks made against him by freelance writer Zulaikha Farhana despite the latter having issued a written apology as he has demanded.
Thanking Zulaikha for the apology for the malicious slander hurled at him, the Merlimau state assemblyman nevertheless insisted that “damage has been done” and that he looks forward to seeing the former whose views appeared on the Newswav news aggregate site in court.
In an earlier Facebook post, Akmal has ticked off Zulaikha who deems herself as a “versatile freelancer, blogger and content writer” for indulging in “evil slander” in her quest to bring him down.
“I urge the Newswav portal and the author of this defamatory article to take down the article and make an unconditional apology within 24 hours,” demanded the Merlimau state EXCO for Rural Development, Agriculture and Food Security.
“And tomorrow, my lawyer will start the legal procedure on this issue. If you fight with slander like this, we shall fight in court!!! #drakmalsaleh #nofearnosurrender”
Elaborating on the damning article entitled “Controversy Erupts Over KK Supermart’s Role in PM’s Central Asia Visit” (which has since been removed), Akmal claimed that the writer has issued a malicious slander against him by alleging that he is “facing charges under Section 16(a)(A) and 24(1) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act”.
“And the article further claimed that the incident took place at the Yayasan Tanah Aku located at Solaris Dutamas in Kuala Lumpur which first and foremost is unheard of by me not to mention the case that was mentioned,” berated the Russia-trained medical doctor.
“I vehemently deny the existence of such a case or that I’m being charged in court … this is a malicious accusation and an evil slander to bring me down.”
The latest incident marked a somehow back-to-back “see you in court” episode from Akmal after he chastised Malaysiakini columnist Amdrew Sia who described Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) as an “apartheid academy” by rallying the UMNO Youth wing to lodge nationwide police report against the former TheStar environment editor in addition to a potential legal suit.
Sia’s column had criticised a recent ‘wear black’ protest by the UiTM’s student council against calls to admit non-Bumiputera students to the university’s cardiothoracic surgery post-graduate programme. – May 28, 2024
