PETALING JAYA, Jan 3 — Umno Youth chief Datuk Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh today urged Malay unity, declaring that Umno and PAS must lead the way as the party reviews its place in the unity government.
According to Free Malaysia Today (FMT), the call was made at a convention convened by Umno Youth to discuss whether the party should maintain its cooperation with Pakatan Harapan (PH). The gathering was framed as a platform for members to weigh the future direction of Umno’s role in government.
Addressing delegates, Akmal said grassroots members needed to take a firm stand against what he described as repeated acts of disrespect towards Malay institutions, Islam and the monarchy.
“The time has come for the unity of the Malay people,” FMT quoted Akmal as saying, to raucous applause.
He said Umno members had been hurt by the perception that former prime minister Najib Razak was denied justice, and that the pain was compounded when the king’s decree was mocked. For Malays, he added, such matters touched directly on dignity.
Akmal warned that if the “red lines” agreed upon during the formation of the unity government were crossed, the youth wing would oppose it.
He noted that for three years Umno had given its partners the benefit of the doubt, but in his view they had repeatedly shown disrespect and crossed those boundaries.
The convention was prompted by Puchong MP Yeo Bee Yin’s refusal to apologise for a social media post celebrating the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s dismissal of Najib’s application for house arrest.
Akmal’s call for cooperation with PAS also came after PAS election director Sanusi Nor suggested that Muafakat Nasional (MN) — the electoral pact forged between PAS and Umno in 2019 — should be revived as a platform for unity ahead of the next general election.
