Still Not Too Late For Nga Kor Ming To Pull Out From His Fight With Akmal

---

 
NGA Kor Ming should have never responded to Datuk Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh following the “those who have nothing to gain should not fight with those who have nothing to lose” rule.
Nga is a seasoned politician and government minister while Akmal is a relatively new politician who is trying to make a name for himself in the political field.
Had Akmal said something that did not sit well with Nga, the latter should have sent one of his subordinates in DAP to confront the UMNO Youth chief instead of confronting him directly.
He should not have confronted Akmal simply because he had nothing to gain from it. If he won the confrontation, people will just attribute it to the fact that he had the advantage of being a government minister but if he lost to Akmal, Akmal would have emerged as a giant killer.
For context, the dispute between Akmal and Nga arose because of the KK Mart “Halal ham” controversy, when the ham and cheese sandwiches that were sold in its outlets within the University Malaya campus grounds were found to have the halal logo despite the ham.
In response to the controversy, Akmal said in a Tik Tok post on Jan 12 that ham contains pork, and the sandwich was sold at UM, where the majority of the community is Malay. He had also questioned the halal logo on the packaging.
Several days after Akmal’s statement, Nga who is a DAP vice-chairman would wade into the controversy by taking a jab at certain quarters whom he accused of making a fuss over the matter by saying ham simply referred to meat that had been cured.
Following a series of heated social media posts, Nga’s response today was that he will not engage in arguments with Akmal, adding “a lion doesn’t argue with a fly”.
However, all I can say about this is that Nga is, to quote a famous Michael Learns to Rock Song, “25 minutes too late”.
Had he not stepped into the mud at all with Akmal, what he said about how a lion would not fight a fly would carry meaning and register in the heart and mind of the public.
But him saying all this now after he had been stung by Akmal will be taken by the public as him coming to the realisation that he has lost to Akmal.

Nga has made a mistake by engaging with Akmal. To address the mistake, he can pretend that there is no engagement with Akmal at all, or that he simply doesn’t wish to respond with Akmal because it is beneath him, but all this will do is give the impression that Akmal has defeated him.
The only option that Nga has now, is to either 1) reinforce his mistake until he can turn it into a victory or 2) stop reinforcing his mistake and cut his losses.
If Nga chooses the first option, he must use his advantage as a minister and throw everything and the kitchen sink at Akmal until Akmal surrenders or sues for peace.
Personally, I think this is a bad idea, because Akmal will probably relish any attempt by Nga to take him down, because regardless of whether he wins or loses, it will raise Akmal’s reputation in the eyes of his supporters and the people for daring to take on a more powerful opponent despite the fact that the opponent was doing everything he can to take Akmal down.
Also, if Nga chooses to reinforce his mistake, this problem might escalate from being a problem between two politicians to become a problem between two parties in the unity government or become a racial issue.
This then leaves Nga with the second option which is to realise that he has made a mistake and stop reinforcing the mistake by saying something reconciliatory.
He could, for example, say something to the tune of yes, after checking with his sources, he realises that Akmal is right, in that ham is usually associated with pork as well as cured meat, thank Akmal for correcting his mistake, and regret any misunderstanding that might have occurred due to his misunderstanding.
If Nga said that, would it look like he had lost to Akmal? Yes, but that is the problem with making a mistake, isn’t it? When you make a mistake, all your options will lead to losses. The only question is whether you will end up with a small loss or a big loss.
If Nga chooses the second option, his loss will be a small loss. After he stops reinforcing his mistake, the issue will die down, and though Nga’s face and pride will be slightly dented, it won’t be crushed and he will also leave with the consolation that he is a gentleman and a sportsman.
Even if the gesture doesn’t reconciliate Nga with Akmal, at least it will buy him some time and respite to postpone his confrontation with Akmal to a future date, where hopefully Nga will learn his lesson and not repeat the same mistake that he had done in this round. 
Nehru Sathiamoorthy is a roving tutor who loves politics, philosophy and psychology.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of  MMKtT.
- Focus Malaysia.

---