PETALING JAYA: Umno Youth chief Akmal Saleh says he believes that DAP’s participation in the unity government could prove that the party is not the anti-Malay monster as it has been made out to be
Akmal said the sentiment of DAP being anti-Malay was the result of the people being brainwashed from an early stage with such beliefs about the party.
“Since we became the unity government, we need to prove to the people that what they believed (about DAP being anti-Malay) is wrong and distorted,” Akmal said in a Sinar Harian interview.
Umno and DAP are coalition partners in the government of Pakatan Harapan chairman Anwar Ibrahim.
Umno leaders and others have in the past attacked DAP as being anti-Malay. Recently the PAS information chief said among the reasons for that label was DAP’s constitution which called for the Malaysian Constitution to be “restored to its original ‘secular’ framework”.
Umno’s election loss a boon for young leaders
Akmal said Umno’s loss in the November 2022 general election offered a silver lining to young leaders like himself.
The party was now more open and welcoming to young people and more willing to listen to dissenting views as compared with the Umno in its glory days when its controlled the government with a two-thirds parliamentary majority.
He described those days as being difficult for young people. “Today when the party has suffered a loss, the silver lining is we young people can really bring a change in Umno,” he said.
Umno suffered its biggest defeat in its history last November, winning only 26 seats compared to its 54 seats in 2018.
Akmal, who is a Melaka executive councillor and assemblyman for Merlimau, said young leaders hold the responsibility to show their “progressive and mature politics” where they can sit together with their allies and the opposition to champion the people’s issues. - FMT
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