BREAKING NEWS
Top UMNO sources on all sides of UMNO's divide are agreed on one thing
Its Youth Chief Dr. Muhamed Akmal Saleh is out of touch and, "not good for UMNO politics of today."
by Toffee
8th Jan '24
The news broke from a source in the Hishamuddin Hussein Onn camp and prominent members from several sides of the divide have echoed the same sentiment.
Is the Pemuda UMNO Chief Getting irrelevant?
The Hishamuddin and Ismail Sabri camps are afraid they may become irrelevant unless they can get into the mainstream before or by the time Najib gets his house arrest secured - their side kick Akmal is proving to be excessive baggage.
Hoping to remain relevant
According to a senior UMNO Supreme Council member it was Akmal who mooted the call that UMNO was afraid of DAP when the Najib Solidarity Rally was called off, and that he did so without even knowing the real reasons (and that call of his was echoed by PAS), UMNO decided to call it off. "He is a loose cannon and is not healthy for our type of politics."
Another UMNO member, a high ranking UMNO veteran said, "UMNO is changing its brand of politics and our approach has to keep up with the times,we can't have members who fire like loose cannons we are not PAS", he said in an apparent reference to PAS Siti Mastura, " and both these people ada title Doctor."
Akmal has always been seen as leaning towards Ismail Sabri and Hishamuddin Hussein Onn and has been throwing the spanner into the works of the present day government and these jibes were strongly believed to be at the prodding of both these political masters of his.
Things are changing in UMNO with the strong possibility of Najib returning under house arrest, the belief that that would enable him to work more effectively from behind the scenes, this freedom comes at a cost and Akmal is part of that cost as he has been a nuisance - more to Zahid than to Anwar who chose just to ignore him and allow Zahid to deal with him.
He is seen as a loud mouth one Perak UMNO official retorted, "Tin Kosong, bising je, KK Mart, apa da Jadi? Bodoh"
Moreover the electorate has got more sophisticated, all the useless racial and religious ranting is not being bought by the majority of Malays, they have got used to that nonsense and though Akmal feels it is the way to go, the Malays are now looking for real returns from their votes, they want better perks, housing, schools, and facilities the goodies are not reaching them they are fed up with handouts.
Job opportunities are few many are now going into business on their own, mostly as food vendors, the young are in the GRAB and other delivery services and are looking for better opportunities in business.
Musa Kidam, a grab rider had this to say when asked about what he thought about Muhamad Akmal.
"I ride the Grab delivery service, that bike over there is my own, take a look it is (rosak macam besi buruk) rotten, ask Akmal instead of shouting pointless things and creating racial and religious issues from nothing to make noise with the government to scrap the import and excise duties from Motorbikes for people like me, so I can buy a decent bike which is bigger, is safer to ride, is more comfortable and has better features and to also extend better long term loan facilities to persons like us" so we can earn more. Stop shouting useless things creating chaos, and making people like me suffer in business because I m Malay, every time he does that my tips get affected as my clients are mostly non Malays and they tip as much as five ringgit per ride.
"The Bike is an essential part of our job, without it we will have no income, what is this "bodoh" doing there shouting and making noise about unproductive issues, Ketua Pemuda UMNO? tak guna la", no use to me at all, he only wants to appear in the newspapers everyday so people think he is doing a good job, "kita bukan bodoh la bang," was what this young rider had to tell me, he really seemed to be disgusted, and if that is the mood, of the ordinary man in the street, it's no surprise there is consensus with the big guns who are out to remove Dr. Muhamad Akmal Saleh.