Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) 2026 Mascot displayed at KL Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
A young man and woman were eager to enjoy a picnic in the park one Saturday noon, and they opted to go through a fast-food drive-in for a quick snack. They ordered, paid, got their bag of goodies, and headed for the park. When they opened the bag, it was full on money instead of the hamburgers they expected. They rushed back to the fast-food place and returned the money. “This is WONDERFUL,” exclaimed the manager. “We’ve been looking for this money all morning and couldn’t figure out where it could have been misplaced. You two are an honest couple. A lot of people would not have the morals and honesty to return the money. I’m going to call the TV and the newspapers and let everybody know what an honest deed you’ve done.” “Uh, don’t do that,” says the man, “my wife might see it on TV.”
The man who hated fake politeness was so renowned when he died, they preserved him in formality hide.
I was recently sharing with my father how bad my college football team had lost to a major rival 58-0 and that it couldn’t get any worse. Dad, in his infinite wisdom, indicated, “The score could have been 65-0.”
Did you hear about the blonde coyote? She got stuck in a trap, chewed off three of her legs and was still stuck.
Priest 1: We’ve got to do something. Many of the young people are converting to the Quaker faith. Priest 2: I’ve noticed that too. In fact, some of my best friends are becoming quacks!
Thirty ways to shape up for summer — number one: eat less; number two: exercise more; number three…
What was I talking about?
I’m so hungry right now.
A man looked at the menu at the airport restaurant and saw that the sandwiches were named after planes. “I’ll have a ‘jumbo jet’,” he said. When the order arrived, he was disappointed to see how small his burger was, but he ate it anyway. He then called his waiter over. “Was that the ‘jumbo jet’?” he asked. “Yeah,” the waiter answered. “Went pretty fast, didn’t it?”
There was once a snail who was sick and tired of his reputation for being so slow. He decided to get some fast wheels to make up the difference. After shopping around a while, he decided that the Datsun 240-Z was the car to get. So, the snail goes to the nearest Datsun dealer and says he wants to buy the 240-Z, but he wants it repainted “240-S”. The dealer asks, “Why ‘S’?” The snail replies, “‘S’ stands for snail. I want everybody who sees me roaring past to know who’s driving.” Well, the dealer doesn’t want to lose the unique opportunity to sell a car to a snail, so he agrees to have the car repainted for a small fee. The snail gets his new car and spent the rest of his days roaring happily down the highway at top speed. And whenever anyone would see him zooming by, they’d say “Wow! Look at that S-car go!”
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WHO are the real enemies of the Malays? Is it DAP or other non-Malay political parties?
Or the other Malay political parties in the country? Or is it that those aligned with UMNO Youth are chasing after their imaginary enemies?
However, UMNO – more precisely the party’s youth wing – considers DAP as the real enemy of the Malays. UMNO Youth chief Datuk Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh is going to resign from his Melaka EXCO post to go all-out after DAP.
Given the racial and religious narrative that UMNO in general is steeped in, it appears the enemy has to be a non-Malay and non-Muslim political party.
Considering DAP’s past oppositional role as the so-called champions of the non-Malays, the party fits the bill of the main enemy of UMNO although the reality might be different.
Defending UMNO grassroots vs Malay elites
Because UMNO is not governed by ideology based moral and political principles, its sole preoccupation is to safeguard the rights and privileges of the Malays.
But in reality, not the rights and privileges of ordinary Malays but those of the Malay political and administrative elite who are differentiated by class from the subaltern sections of Malay society.
UMNO knows very well that only by constantly harping on Malay ethnicity and religion can the party continue to serve elite interests.
UMNO knows no other narratives other than the narrative of race and religion. Minus these political narratives, UMNO would pale in political significance.
In this respect, UMNO needs an enemy that is ethnically and religiously different from the Malays. This where the UMNO Youth comes in with its leader Akmal. It is in this context that DAP fits the bill perfectly as the so-called #1 enemy of the Malays.
Akmal is no fool. A medical doctor by training, he understands the Malay psyche, especially those who have been acculturated into thinking that non-Malays – particularly, the Chinese – are the #1 enemies of the Malays.
UMNO president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (left) and the party’s Youth chief Datuk Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh
He just wants to capitalise on the matter aggressively. His provocative and incendiary speeches have made the Sedition Act non-applicable.
Given the historical background of DAP in fighting for the rights of the Chinese, the party came to be portrayed as the main enemy of the Malays.
Why not PAS, Bersatu, PKR?
Fighting for the rights of non-Malays was interpreted by nationalistic Malays as an attempt to deprive Malays of their rights as Bumiputera. It was the hallmark of the zero-sum game. The gains of the non-Malays were interpreted as the loss of the Malays and vice-versa.
Unfortunately, Akmal might have missed the boat when DAP was at its height of popularity as the champion of non-Malays, particularly the Chinese.
DAP of today is not the same ferocious party it was before. Power, positions and perks have reduced the party to a political appendage in the ruling coalition.
DAP might have 40 parliamentary members and five ministers in the Cabinet but the party has been completely subordinated to the Malay hegemonic interests.
DAP is hardly a threat to Malays, especially to their special rights and privileges. What is not understandable is the fact why would UMNO Youth flog the dead horse of DAP.
I think Akmal needs a political enemy to harp on the theme of Malay unity. That enemy is none other than the now-pathetic DAP.
Image credit: Bernama
Yet Akmal – despite being a medical doctor – knows very well that the real enemies of the Malays are the Malay elites themselves – those who have used and manipulated ethnicity and religion to derive benefits that have largely bypassed the rural masses who remain locked away in their kampung and the interior.
Akmal being part of the class that manipulates and subordinates the rank-and-file Malays needs the imaginary enemies such as DAP that fits into his extreme racial and religious narrative.
How can Akmal talk about Malay unity when Malay-centric political parties such as PAS, Bersatu and PKR have taken away substantial Malay support from UMNO?
Why should UMNO pretend that it is the only party that is capable of uniting the Malays? Shouldn’t PAS, Bersatu and PKR be entitled to speak on Malay unity?
Are these political parties not the real enemies of Malay unity? If these parties have siphoned off Malay support, shouldn’t Akmal blame them for the fragmentation and disunity among the Malays?
Its own leaders are UMNO’s biggest enemies
If DAP has attracted only a handful of Malays into its ranks, how can it realistically be portrayed as the number one enemy of the Malays?
If UMNO genuinely believes in the progress and wellbeing of the Malays, it serves no purpose to reinvent political enemies merely to ensure the continued dominance of an ethnic narrative within the party.
Malays may possess political power but the lack of economic power remains the main stumbling block to meaningful Malay socio-economic progress.
Decades of strategic initiatives and economic policies aimed at transforming Malay society have failed to deliver the intended results.
The Malay entrepreneurial and business classes remain heavily dependent on the state for survival. The creation of rent-seeking Malay political and bureaucratic elite has jeopardised the democratic economic participation of the Malays.
It is the constant and unceasing Malay ethnic and religious narratives that have put obstacles in the socio-economic progress of the Malays especially the subaltern sections of the society.
Shouldn’t Akmal be focusing on this mammoth structural problem that stands in the way of genuine Malay socio-economic advancement?
Why the need to re-invent enemies for the Malays when the real enemies are lurking elsewhere?
My humble advice to Akmal: the fault is not in the stars but in ourselves in failing to analyse the major issues confronting the Malay or Malaysian society. Re-inventing imaginary enemies is not something that will benefit the Malay society.
Malays should be acquiring the latest technological skills to compete in the competitive global economy instead of being confused by self-serving politicians merely interested in their political relevance.
The greatest enemy of the Malays are not DAP or the Chinese or Indians but Malay leaders who continue to thwart the progress of their own community.
Former DAP stalwart and Penang deputy chief minister II Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy is chairman of the United Rights of Malaysian Party (Urimai) interim council.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.
ASSUMING that Datuk Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh has acted on his own accord in issuing the highly emotive “I’ll produce another 300,000 Akmal Salehs to whack ’em (DAP)” statement at the recent UMNO annual general assembly, then the firebrand UMNO Youth chief is “only expediting his party’s burial”.
Such is the writing on the wall if based on the tactics of Chinese legendary military genius Zhuge Liang who is recognised as the most accomplished strategist of his era and has been compared to Sun Tzu, author of The Art of War.
Thinker Habin Faisal Mohamed who expounded military strategy of the chancellor and later regent of the Shu Han state during the Three Kingdoms era (AD 220 to 280) further surmised the Merlimau state assemblyman’s action “as not a frightening threat but signalling failure to understand the laws of leadership and political survival”.
“In Zhuge Liang’s theory, the fall of a country is not due to a strong enemy but because the leader himself fails to understand the timing, role and limits of power,” penned the Qalbu Linguistic Programming founder in a Facebook post.
“Zhuge Liang’s principles that are ignored are that a leader must have wisdom, trust, humanity, courage and discipline. The problem is, Akmal only emphasises “勇” (bravery) – that is, daring to speak but not daring to strategise.”
Stating that great leaders “are judged on their ability to read the battlefield, not shout in the battllefield”, Habin claimed that the self-proclaimed staunch defender of race and religion “lacks ideological depth, political patience, the ability to build consensus and most critically, the wisdom to manage power when there is power”.
Therefore, the 38-year-old Russian-trained medical doctor’s intention to resign from his Melaka state EXCO’s rural development, agriculture and food security portfolio effective this week “isn’t a proof of courage but an admission of inability to fight within the system”.
Thus, Habin envisages:
A strategist fights from within, not shouting from the outside. If every UMNO leader imitates Akmal by (i) resigning when dissatisfied; (ii) initiate open attack when emotional; and (iii) look for enemies when angry, UMNO doesn’t need enemies. It’ll self-destruct by its own hands.
“PRODUCING MANY AKMALS” = BREEDING POPULISM, NOT LEADERSHIP.
In the book Bing Fa (“Military Strategy”) by Zhuge Liang, a large army without discipline is more dangerous than a small army with strategy.
300,000 Akmals means (i) 300,000 noisy voices; (ii) 300,000 directionless actions; and (iii) 300,000 internal conflicts but zero long-term strategy.
That’s not strength. That’s a recipe for collective political massacre. The conclusion is simply that UMNO’s demise isn’t prompted by DAP but it misunderstood the true meaning of leadership.”
The Immigration Department has dismantled a migrant smuggling syndicate known as “Iqbal” in a special operation targeting illegal human trafficking, carried out on Jan 17, 2026, following intelligence and public tip-offs. — NSTP/ HARI ANGGARA.
KUALA LUMPUR: The Immigration Department has dismantled a migrant smuggling syndicate known as "Iqbal" in a special operation targeting illegal human trafficking, carried out on Jan 17, 2026, following intelligence and public tip-offs.
The raid was conducted by officers from the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants (Atipsom) and Anti-Migrant Labour Abuse (Amla) Prevention Division at the Immigration Headquarters in Putrajaya, in collaboration with the Kelantan State Immigration Department Enforcement Division.
Immigration Department, director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban said the operation focused on a premises used as a temporary "holding house" for migrants brought into the country through unauthorised routes.
"Located in a remote village, the property was chosen to evade detection and served as a transit point for newly smuggled migrants," he said.
The raid led to the arrest of 12 Bangladeshi nationals — 11 men and one woman aged between 18 and 54 — as well as a 27-year-old Rohingya man from Myanmar who acted as the caretaker of the holding house.
"Preliminary investigations revealed that the migrants had entered Malaysia three days earlier via unregulated land routes along the Malaysia-Thailand border. They were kept at the premises while awaiting full payment before being sent to their next destinations," said Zakaria.
He added that JIM is actively tracing the local property owner suspected of colluding with the syndicate by renting out the premises as a transit centre.
"The individual will be investigated under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act (Atipsom) 2007 [Act 670]," he said.
Further intelligence indicates that the "Iqbal" syndicate has been operating since early 2024, with a network of agents in the migrants' home countries. The ringleader, known as "Iqbal", is believed to operate from Thailand.
The syndicate charged between RM10,000 and RM15,000 per migrant, generating estimated earnings of around RM1.5 million from illegal operations.
The operation also employed the National Guideline on Human Trafficking Indicators (NGHTI) 2.0 to identify potential trafficking victims among vulnerable individuals.
The Immigration Department has launched further investigations to examine violations under Atipsom 2007 [Act 670].
Zakaria reaffirmed the Immigration Department's commitment to combating all forms of migrant smuggling and human trafficking.
"Legal action will be taken without compromise against any individuals, syndicates, employers, or property owners who hire, shelter, or collude with undocumented migrants," he said. - NST
DAP sec-gen Anthony Loke delivers his keynote address during the Selangor DAP Convention in Centro Klang. - NSTP / FAIZ ANUAR
KLANG: DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke has denied claims that camps exists within the party after Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi claimed a "Team B" in DAP were behind attacks on his party leaders.
Loke said he has never spoken to Zahid about the existence of such camps in DAP.
"Does it make sense for me to say that? I would be foolish to stay in politics if I told other parties there was a Team B in my own party.
"I strongly deny this and never spoke to Zahid about the matter," he said at the 2026 Selangor DAP Annual Convention here today. - NST
