Akmal Finally Met His Match How Ex Umno Mad Dog Nazri Could Boost Pm Anwar S Plunging Popularity

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 Having terrorised and attacked the Chinese community for months trying to boost his ultra-Malay image, UMNO Youth Akmal Saleh appears to have finally met his match. Unlike his previous critics, most of whom were of Chinese ethnicity, including MCA (Malaysian Chinese Association) and DAP (Democratic Action Party), Akmal can’t use racial and religious cards this time.
That’s because his new critic is none other than Nazri Abdul Aziz, a veteran UMNO-Malay warlord who is no stranger to controversy. In fact, it’s not an exaggeration to say Nazri was ten times more notorious than Akmal, who is still wet between the ears. The nightmare of the junior leader of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) started upon the return of Nazri from the U.S.
Make no mistake – it was Nazri’s calculated move to target Akmal in an attempt to be relevant and to return to politics after his 2-year term as Malaysian Ambassador to the United States ended on February 8 this year. Ahead of the next 16th General Election, he was merely sucking up to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim when he expressed his strong support for the PM to continue leading the country.


Nazri said Anwar must remain in power beyond 2026 to prevent political instability, largely due to a lack of a viable successor, including from his own party, UMNO. His statement was a slap in the face of not only UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, but also UMNO party itself. It was an insult to Zahid leadership, as well as a vote of no-confidence to UMNO’s plan to regain dominance.
Akmal was shocked when Nazri mocked him as an example why UMNO has no candidate to replace Anwar as the prime minister. Akmal hits back and ridiculed Nazri as a bootlicker. In response, Nazri laughed at the UMNO Youth leader’s childishness for not being able to counter his argument constructively, before reminding Akmal that he represents only a minority voice in UMNO, let alone the entire Malay race.
Mr Nazri was absolutely correct to argue that Akmal did not represent the majority voice of the Malays and Muslims because opposition PAS had become the dominant party among the Malay and Muslim voters. Extremist PAS Islamist party controls four Malay-Muslim states, namely Kelantan, Terengganu, Perlis and Kedah after the Nov 2022 General Election.


Even though Akmal’s main purpose in attacking the Chinese was to swing back Malay voters who had switched sides to PAS-led Opposition Perikatan Nasional coalition, Nazri lectured how PAS – unlike Akmal and UMNO Youth – handled the “Allah” sock issue well without causing racial tensions. Essentially, Nazri was saying UMNO would fail to regain its past glory thanks to Akmal’s stupidity.
 
If UMNO is indeed on track to winning back all the Malay support it had lost, Nazri would not be dumb enough to praise PKR (People’s Justice Party) president Anwar instead of his own party leadership. Before the Nov 2022 election that produced a hung parliament, which forced  Anwar-led Pakatan Harapan to form a Unity Government with UMNO-led Barisan Nasional, Nazri was a strong critic of Anwar.
Nazri was easily one of the richest UMNO warlords before retiring from politics. If former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s buddy, Jamaluddin Jarjis (popularly known as JJ), who died in a helicopter crash in 2015, could accumulate RM2 billion fortunes, imagine the wealth that Mr Nazri had amassed. After all, heavyweight Nazri was a six-term MP and minister before he quit politics in 2021


Coincidentally, both JJ and Nazri had been sent to serve as Malaysian Ambassador to the United States under different premier – Jamaluddin under Najib Razak and Nazri Aziz under Anwar Ibrahim. But they were rewarded for different reasons. Najib appointed his best friend JJto the U.S. in July 2009 after he sexually harassed a female worker of a restaurant at a five-star hotel in Kuala Lumpur.
Nazri, meanwhile, was appointed by Anwar (whose Pakatan Harapan has only 82 MPs) as ambassador to the U.S. in February 2023 primarily because the PM had to kowtow to UMNO, whose 30 MPs in Barisan Nasional was essential to form a simple majority government in the 222-seat Parliament. But Nazri was a clever politician who knows which side of his bread must be buttered.
While serving PM Najib, Nazri shamelessly defended his boss, believing the crooked PM was innocent despite the infamous multi-billion-dollar 1MDB scandal, only to condemn his boss after UMNO lost power for the first time in the May 2018 General Election. When UMNO returned to power shortly after plotting with traitor Muhyiddin Yassin, Nazri religiously repeated the”No Anwar, No Mahathir, No DAP” mantra.


But he began singing songs of praises for Anwar after the PKR president became the 10th Prime Minister and was rewarded with the posh job as the ambassador to the U.S. However, his attempt to suck up to Donald Trump has backfired – a photo of him holding up a Make America Great Again (MAGA) sign at a victory rally for Mr Trump has sparked condemnation among some Malaysians.
 
Therefore, Akmal was correct to label Nazri as a bootlicker. But Mr Nazri could be an incredible useful tool if PM Anwar knows how to use him. Akmal is the most hated UMNO-Malay leader among the ethnic Chinese for obvious reason. The reason why the UMNO Youth scumbag is untouchable is because both the prime minister and UMNO dare not reprimand him.
 
Anwar’s cowardice and UMNO’s silent approval to Akmal’s bullying have seen a growing distrust – even hatred – among the Chinese community at the spineless prime minister. The impression is that Akmal has been given a license to freely attack, belittle, mock and insult the non-Muslims. It’s actually UMNO-Malay’s old playbook to woo Malay voters by using the minority race as a punching bag.


As a retired politician with nothing to lose, billionaire Nazri Aziz could neutralize the Chinese anger and dissatisfaction if he becomes an unofficial spokesperson of the PM who would defend any extremist or racist attacks unleashed by the despicable Akmal (and Opposition Perikatan Nasional). Anything that Anwar dares not say publicly can be outsourced to Nazri.
 
It takes a thief to catch a thief, so it would be an UMNO-Malay gangster against another UMNO-Malay gangster. Heck, Nazri could actually be appointed a Senator and rewarded a ministership if he could help boost the premier’s plunging popularity. Like it or not, the current Communication Minister Fahmi Fadzil’s performance has been horrible and terrible.
 
Crucially, Akmal can’t accuse Nazri of being anti-Islam or anti-Malay when they argue with each other over sensitive issues such as “Allah” socks or chicken ham sandwich, which had been exploited and manipulated by the UMNO Youth Chief as a religious issue. Mad dog Nazri can say what DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke can’t say without triggering racial and religious crisis.


Yes, Prime Minister Anwar, and Pakatan Harapan for that matter, desperately needs a mad dog like Nazri to do all the dirty jobs. Leaving Chinese voters, 95% had voted for Anwar in 2022 election, to fend for themselves while Anwar cares only for Palestinians, Hamas and radical Muslims could see Chinese boycotting Anwar. Nazri can be weaponized to lock in minority Chinese and Indian voters. - financetwitter

The views expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.

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