Umno youth leader Akmal Saleh held protest over upside-down flag as 'peaceful mission', says M'sia foreign minister

UMNO’s deputy president and Malaysia’s Defence Minister Mohamad Hassan has called for calm amidst UMNO Youth Chief Akmal Saleh’s national flag protest in Penang.

Mohamad Hassan, also known by his nickname “Tok Mat”, called for calm on Aug 16., saying that “in this world, every action will have a reaction”, and that no one wanted the issue to “spiral out of control”, as reported by Free Malaysia Today.

Mohamad was speaking in the aftermath of a protest held in Kepala Batas, in Penang state.

Hate content

Akmal Saleh, head of UMNO’s Youth Wing, had led a protest against a Penang hardware store that had been recorded raising the Malaysian national flag upside down, an act that the store owner said was an honest mistake, but Akmal nonetheless took umbrage at.

After the protest, Akmal was reported to the police, who confirmed that Akmal was under investigation for making a statement that “could be categorised as ‘hate content’”, according to The Star.

Malaysian police later confirmed that Akmal was facing an investigation under the sedition act, and that he had been questioned.

A lawyer for Akmal was quoted by Free Malaysia Today, who told them that Akmal had faced 80 questions by the investigating officer, and that he had cooperated fully.

Cut ties

The Penang Youth Wing of the Democratic Action Party, governing party in Penang and the largest individual party in the national Madani government, then called on its party leadership to cut ties with Akmal specifically, but not his parent party.

DAP Youth Wings from other states joined them.

This prompted a fiery response from Akmal, who essentially said that breaking ties with him would mean that the DAP would cut ties with UMNO as a whole, jeopardising the Madani government, telling his opponents to “bring it on”, as reported by the Malay Mail.

Akmal appears to have received the tacit backing of his party’s leadership, at least to the extent that he will not be removed, if not outright endorsement of his statements.

Spiral out of control

MalaysiaKini reports that UMNO president Mohamad Hasan has cautioned against solely targeting Akmal, saying that the law must be “applied fairly to all involved”.

Mohamad said that every “action will have a reaction” and that “we don’t want this matter to spiral out of control”.

He urged everyone to remain calm and said that the police had already summoned Akmal.

He further backed Akmal, saying that Akmal had gone on a “peaceful mission” but was provoked.

“The law on flag installation already exists”, Mohamad said, and that in case of incorrect installation, necessary action should be taken.

“We cannot only act against one party while letting others off”, he mused. “If UMNO Youth has to take matters into their own hands, then what’s the point of having enforcement agencies?”

Akmal and various wings of UMNO Youth had themselves used incorrect versions of the Malaysian flag, publishing calls to action to defend the flag while displaying flags with incorrect numbers of stripes or other similar problems.

Mohamad urged the DAP to “advise” its youth wing to “return to rational thinking”, and that rash actions would “complicate” the work of the Madani government, and that instability would dissuade foreign investors.

Gangster style politics

DAP Youth retorted soon after, saying that it was Akmal alone that had been “irrational and unreasonable”, and that it was Akmal that needed to "calm down” and to “stop wrecking the Madani government”, according to a subsequent MalaysiaKini article.

It complained about Akmal’s “track record” of “gangster-style” politics, citing incidents where he had insulted DAP MP Teresa Kok as an “old Nonya” or calling critics “disabled”.

It also accused him of inciting violence regarding an earlier incident involving KK Mart.

The DAP Youth, in contrast, had never “threatened traders” and “never intimidated prosecutors".

It urged Mohamad to “face this reality” and stop defending Akmal, which it characterised as a “bad apple” in the unity government.

Akmal refused to let the issue go, replying on social media that a “bad apple is better than poison”, before thanking Mohamad.

Strong action

Malaysia’s leaders have been discreet when addressing the issue.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said that there would be “strong action” taken, while Deputy Prime Minister and UMNO president Zahid Hamidi urged both sides not to destabilise the unity government.

MalaysiaKini quoted Zahid as saying that party leadership decisions must be followed by all to preserve harmony, although he did not name Akmal directly.

“Because of one incident”, he said, “we don’t want a political decision to be made that rocks the unity of 18 parties that form the Madani Government.”

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Top image via Pergerakan Pemuda U M N O Malaysia/Facebook