Notorious for playing the dangerous games of racial and religious hatred.
Ahmad Zahid Hamidi might not be a very clever UMNO president, but handling a small kid like Akmal Saleh is easy meat. Zahid, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister, could easily take away not only the boy’s food, but also steal his girlfriend without the UMNO Youth Chief knowing what hit him. After all, Zahid had easily checkmated bigger troublemakers like Khairy Jamaluddin and Hishammuddin Hussein.
Both Khairy and Hishammuddin were former UMNO Youth Chiefs. But while Hishammuddin, who was suspended from UMNO for six years in January 2023, continues sulking and waiting for an invitation to rejoin the party, expelled Khairy finally realised he needs the party more than the party needs him. Khairy made his first appearance at the UMNO General Assembly since 2023 today.
Invited by Akmal but with the blessing of Zahid, former health minister Khairy’s attendance on Thursday (January 15) was to test the waters about the level of acceptance from members of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). If he is still popular, then Zahid can use him to swing young fence-sitters to vote for the party in the coming 16th General Election, else Khairy can continue whining as a radio DJ.
But the biggest celebrity was Akmal. Everyone was waiting to hear from the horse’s mouth if the big talker who is wet behind the ears has the balls to resign as he has publicly hinted recently. He failed the test. Like his predecessors Hishammuddin and Khairy, Akmal failed to set a new record as the first UMNO Youth Chief to resign out of dignity and principle.
To save face from all the bragging and boastful statements to resign, notorious Akmal deliberately chose to quit from the least important post, Melaka State Executive Councillor for Rural Development, Agriculture and Food Security. He had no choice after overplaying his hand in instigating – and failing – UMNO to exit the Anwar-led government and pivot towards Muafakat Nasional in partnership with the PAS Islamist party.
The Melaka state exco post was appointed, unlike the “elected” UMNO Youth Chief or the Merlimau state assemblyman posts. Because the exco post was the least useful, gangster Akmal could arrogantly announce, “I am bold enough to announce my resignation as a state exco.” He could also hoodwink gullible UMNO-Malay supporters that his resignation shows dignity and principles.
However, courage, dignity, and principles were not the reasons why the racist Akmal gave up the Melaka exco. Even a simpleton like UMNO Supreme Council member Puad Zarkashi could see through Akmal’s bullshit, mocking him that quitting a state exco member did not carry as much weight as resigning from the post of party youth chief. It might be a different story if the Melaka exco were a finance portfolio.
Besides an insignificant portfolio, Akmal could afford to resign as an exco member because the Malacca state election will be due in a few more months this year. Clearly, it was a good bargain to resign now in exchange for a fake narrative that he is a principled and dignified UMNO youth leader. He has calculated everything from the moment he hinted at a resignation.
The biggest joke was when Akmal announced he was quitting the Melaka (Malacca) exco to “fight DAP to the end”. Even if he is incredibly anti-Chinese, there was absolutely no justification to resign as the state exco member because Malacca is under UMNO administration. Exactly how could he hurt the Democratic Action Party (DAP) by resigning is beyond comprehension.
It would be a different story if Malacca were under DAP-Chinese control, and by resigning out of disgust and revenge, the state would collapse. But in the 2021 Malacca state election, the UMNO-led Barisan Nasional alliance won a super-majority of 21 out of 28 seats. Pakatan Harapan, an alliance of DAP (4 seats), PKR (1 seat) and Amanah, captured only 5 seats.
Unless the Russian-trained medical doctor is retarded, Dr Akmal should have resigned as UMNO Youth Chief instead because the man who had betrayed both him and the party was UMNO president Zahid Hamidi, who has rejected UMNO Youth’s resolution to quit Anwar Madani government in favour of reviving Muafakat Nasional with Islamist party PAS.
When Akmal opened the special UMNO youth convention on January 3, he told the 1,500 members that the assembly had been approved by Zahid. He also claimed that Zahid told him that calls by grassroots members to exit the unity government would be supported. He also said that because red lines had been crossed with insults to the 3Rs (race, religion and royalty), UMNO could no longer remain patient.
Notorious for playing the dangerous games of racial and religious hatred, Akmal said, “I want to make it clear – Zahid was the first person to agree to this convention. I told him that if we were to ‘pull the handbrake’ and leave the government today, he would be the first to be targeted. But Zahid told me that if this is what the grassroots want, he is prepared to fight all the way.”
During the gathering, Akmal not only instigated party members to quit the Anwar government and pushed the UMNO leadership to leave the Unity Government, but also proposed that the party unite with the opposition Islamist party PAS to become a “dignified opposition”. Akmal said, “Our dignity must be upheld – there is no point in having power without dignity. The president must listen to the voices of the grassroots.”
But after UMNO Youth submitted a proposal for the party to leave the Madani government and partner with PAS, all hell broke loose. Zahid claims he had set two conditions. First, the meeting cannot discuss a withdrawal from the unity government. Second, the gathering cannot criticise Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Either Akmal or Zahid had lied here.
Regardless of who lied, Akmal has been thrown under the bus when Zahid publicly rejected his calls for UMNO to leave the Madani government. Now, how could Akmal remain in the party as its youth chief when it was Akmal himself who told all and sundry that red lines had been crossed with insults to the 3Rs (race, religion and royalty)? Should he not resign in protest, if indeed he has dignity?
Make no mistake – DAP did not stop UMNO from leaving the government, but UMNO under Zahid’s leadership was the one who insisted on staying. So, why blame DAP and vow to fight DAP till the kingdom comes? Doesn’t spineless Akmal have the balls to question and grill his own president during the party’s general assembly about the refusal to leave the Madani government?
Yes, Akmal and the youth wing have been backstabbed and betrayed by one of their own kind. In fact, none of UMNO’s ministers agrees to quit. Yet, he tried to spin and twist as if it was all DAP’s fault. Even if it was DAP’s fault, which it isn’t, why does Akmal continue to stay in the same boat as DAP in the unity government, when the appropriate move is to fight DAP by jumping ship to opposition PAS?
First, Zahid lured Akmal into a trap, misleading him that calls by grassroots members to exit the unity government would be respected and supported. When the youth chief foolishly swallowed the hook, line and sinker, Zahid shut down any idea to quit. As a reward, the Prime Minister silently ordered the Attorney General’s Chambers to gift Zahid with NFA (no further action) over his 47 corruption charges.
To save face and to point fingers, Akmal tried to play the resignation card, only for Zahid to play tai-chi and say he was unaware of any resignation. Then, Akmal tried to pass the ball to Zahid by saying that he would abide by any decision made by the UMNO president and Melaka Chief Minister, only for Zahid to say he respects Akmal’s decision to quit Melaka Exco.
Now that Akmal has gone ballistic with a “declaration of war” with DAP, Zahid wants him to explain who exactly he wants to attack. His half-baked game plan – either fully or partially endorsed by Zahid – has backfired spectacularly. The bad-cop-good-cop drama did not go as planned. The obsolete 60-year-old UMNO playbook goes off-script due to treachery and betrayal. – Finance Twitter