Ramasamy wants UMNO Youth chief’s head to roll for bribing cops with ‘duit raya’

Ramasamy wants UMNO Youth chief’s head to roll for bribing cops with ‘duit raya’

By Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy





How would UMNO Youth head defend his duit raya gift to the cops?

UMNO youth leader Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh should not think that he is above the law. As though his political antics against KK Super Mart were not enough, this time around he has defended the giving out of duit raya to the police personnel in Jasin, Melaka.

Such a brazen act is tantamount to corruption, something that UMNO has been accused in the past.

The giving out duit raya to poor people can be justified on the basis of need. But isn’t it morally and legally wrong to give out duit raya to police personnel?

Is the Merlimau start assemblyman saying that duit raya given to the police personnel was on the basis of need? If this is so, how can he draw the line between bribery and money given on the basis of necessity?



Why is he buttering the police force? Is it because he wants to be on the good books of the uniformed service? Given he holds a medical degree, didn’t it occur to him that it was morally and legally wrong to “bribe” the police personnel?

The laws in the country forbid extending gifts to police personnel whether in cash or kind. There are directives from the police department that the police personnel are not supposed to accept gifts in whatever form.


Resign with immediate effect

If Akmal doesn’t know this, then he should not be in politics. It is a disgrace that he is both the UMNO youth head honcho and elected state assemblyman. In fact, he should tender his resignation for “bribing” the police personnel.

It is a shame on the part of UMNO leaders to condone this act especially when the party is in the ruling coalition. Such an act of giving duit raya merely raises questions of the political credibility of UMNO.

Akmal’s engagement in bizarre acts lends credence to the fact that he is like a “runaway train” beyond control. The question is what other damages that this “runaway train” is going to cause.

UMNO leaders are not prepared to discipline Akmal and so is the populist Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Anwar engages in philosophy when he is abroad but when it comes to UMNO, he is quiet as mouse. As I am writing this piece, there is another incident of petrol bomb thrown at a KK Super Mart outlet in Kuantan, Pahang.

Perhaps more is expected even though Akmal shed crocodile tears after the petrol bombing of a KK Super Mart branch in Bidor, Perak earlier this week.

Are top UMNO leaders keeping silent on the unruly Akmal because they feel threatened by his actions? Alternatively, is Akmal in the midst of engineering a political coup within his party?

If Akmal is not reined in by the top political leadership of the PH-BN (Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional) coalition, then the unintended consequences of boycott and “bribing” the police personnel are going to rear their ugly heads. – March 30, 2024



Former DAP stalwart and Penang chief minister II Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy is chairman of the Urimai (United Rights of Malaysian Party) Interim Council.