Only Emergency Royal Brakes Can Slow Down Or Stop Akmal Express High Speed Runaway Train

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SOMETIME in April 2024, there was a photograph taken of the His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia sitting with some senior leaders from UMNO and DAP.
His Majesty granted them an audience to press home one urgent message: don’t engage in “extreme rhetoric when discussing religious and racial matters”.
Among the leaders present was one chubby-looking guy listening intently to the royal advice. His name is Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh, the recent conqueror of Kepala Batas who “vanquished” a hardware shop owner for flying the Jalur Gemilang upside down.
Did Akmal follow the wise counsel of the king? Apparently, the message went through one ear and came out the other because this Russia-trained medical doctor-turned-politician went out his own way and turned politics upside down.
The audience with the then newly-crowned king came about in the aftermath of the infamous “sock-gate” incident which took the country by storm.


The sock had the word “Allah” embroidered on it and was on sale at the convenience store chain KK Super Mart.
And who was whipping up a storm of fury to greater heights? Akmal. He jumped into the fray and raised the temperature to boiling point with a strident call to all Muslims to boycott the store chain.
It was in the midst of this tensed situation that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong met Akmal and the other representatives – UMNO deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, Malacca UUMNO liaison committee chairman Datuk Seri Ab Rauf Yusoh and the then DAP deputy secretary-general Liew Chin Tong.
The Agong’s advice is simple and direct: “I would like to advise all parties to focus on promoting unity among the people, not division.”
Plea for Agong’s intervention – again
If Akmal had heeded the message, he would not have led an army of about 200 UMNO Youth soldiers to harass and bully the 59-year-old owner of the hardware shop in Penang whom he disrespectfully addressed as “apek“.
This irascible politician had turned the whole incident into a racial issue and thus inflamed the emotions of one large ethnic community.
The “army general” had earlier “attacked” a Chinese-medium school for allegedly flying the national flag in the wrong direction.
Perhaps, it is time for His Majesty to step in again and defuse this volatile development which can threaten political stability and ultimately remove the pins that held together the national fabric for 68 years.
Behaving like a wild horse, it seems that no UMNO bigwigs dare to cross the path of the unrepentant Akmal. Not even Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim can stop his increasingly disturbing race-driven politics.
The only person who can stand up to this big bully is the king who – as head of state – has the power, prestige, dignity and weight to put politicians in their places to ensure they behave decently towards their fellow citizens.
His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia (Image credit: Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar/Facebook)The Agong could summon Akmal to Istana Negara and conduct a face-to-face meeting to administer another larger dose of royal advice and, perhaps, issue a sterner warning.
But what if this stiff-necked recalcitrant and troublemaker refuses to swallow the tablets of wisdom and moderation?
What if this puny general decides to cause more havoc with his political and racial exploits?
What if he leads his “army” of diehard supporters to “attack” more Chinese business premises and Chinese-medium schools?
Then he is clearly endangering national peace and racial harmony and must be stopped in his track. And the only institution that can rise to the challenge is the monarchy.
Agong the last option
It is always the monarchy that has been the bulwark against the rise of extremism. Early this year, Perak ruler Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah also sounded the alarm about the disturbing trend of people “exploiting racial and religious issues for political gain”.
He expressed his deep concern over the outburst of religious furore following the relocation of the Dewi Sri Pathrakaliamman Temple in Kuala Lumpur in which Akmal also poked his nose in with controversial remarks that ruffled the feelings of the Indian community.

Who then can push back the rising tide of bigotry if not the monarchy?
Akmal cannot be treated with a velvet glove if he continues to muddy the water with his fiery rhetoric every time he takes a deep dive into a sensitive area of national life.
The king is the only hope to stop the runaway mouth from further damaging the delicate balance of race relationship.
This runaway high-speed train is not stopping at any station – and if the brake is not applied sooner – it will leave a trail of destruction.
When politicians run riot with no care for the interests and feelings of the people, the monarchy can intervene and pulled them up.
Recall that when opening the 15th Parliament in early February this year, Sultan Ibrahim told lawmakers that the Dewan Rakyat is not a place for tension, speaking profanities or spreading slander.



















Likewise, this broad, sun-drenched land of many opportunities is not a place for politicians like Akmal to throw their political tantrums as they wish and ruin all the good things in life.
Waving the flag of “no fear, no surrender”, Akmal appears to be all hell-bent on marshalling his troops for more campaigns but people would rather rally around the monarchy than to side with someone who is playing with fire that can burn the whole country.
Only the Agong – the real Commander-in-Chief – can “defeat” Akmal and let peace prevail unchallenged, unspoilt, undimmed.
 Phlip Rodrigues is a retired journalist.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.
 - Focus Malaysia.

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