Opinion: Bootlicker? Did Akmal Saleh insult Nazri Aziz or does he have a point?

Opinion: Bootlicker? Did Akmal Saleh insult Nazri Aziz or does he have a point?


3 Mar 2025 • 3:00 PM MYT



TheRealNehruism
Writer. Seeker. Teacher

Image credit : The Reporter


Akmal Saleh, the ever controversial Umno youth chief, made the news again this week.

This time, he made the news because he called Nazri Aziz, the ex Malaysian ambassador to the US who had multiple stints as a minister in Malaysia, a bootlicker.


Actually, what Akmal said was penjilat, which is a notch more insulting when said in Malay than what its equivalent in English is. 👍


When I first heard Akmal say it against Nazri, I thought it was not proper for Akmal to use such a strong rebuke against Nazri, on account of Nazri being in his 70s while Akmal is but in his 30s, but then it occurred to me that wait a minute, maybe Akmal has a point.

Now before I continue, let me just say that I am not exactly a big fan of Akmal – I doubt that any non-Malay non-Muslim is.


But to be fair, even a broken clock is right twice a day. No matter how you like or dislike a person on a personal basis, people have a right for their points to be evaluated on an objective basis, rather than on a personal basis.


I will go on a limb and say that most of us tend to believe that Malaysia is riddled with corruption, cronyism, kleptocracy and nepotism, and the rot started during Mahathir’s 22 years of reign.


If we believe that it is true that Malaysia is riddled with corruption, then ipso facto, we must believe that the majority of the people who became successful and rose to high positions during Mahathir's era, must have done so because they are “bootlickers.”


What other explanation is there?


If we don’t think they are bootlickers, then we can’t think of Mahathir’s reign as one that is riddled with corruption and depravities. If we think that Mahathir’s reign is riddled with corruption and depravities, then we have to assume that the majority of those who became successful during Mahathir's era is more likely than not a “penjilat”.


The fact that most of the people who became successful during Mahathir's era are today in their late 60s or 70s or 80s, and thus should be considered as a elderly person worthy of respect, is immaterial.


By right, respect is properly only given to someone according to their beliefs and practises.


If you believe in having a sense of dignity, have a record of upholding your integrity even under duress and are the sort of person that will not tell a lie for all the gold in the world, you are worthy of respect, even if you are young.


On the other hand, if you are the sort that will sell your soul for ringgit and cents, don’t mind humiliating yourself before another person in order to rise up in life and who is such a habitual liar that you no longer can tell the difference between what is true and false, what is there to be respected about you, even if you are 100 years old.


As much as Akmal calling septuagenarian Nazri a penjilat might be at odds with the Malaysian culture of respecting one's elders, he might not necessarily be wrong, and what he has said might be a timely reminder for us to re-evaluate how is it that we are supposed to treat our elders, especially those of them who are today in prominent positions on account of the success they achieved during Mahathir's era.


When you look at the spate of corruption that our elders have been involved in, you have to ask yourself, are our prominent elders who are currently in their late 60s or 70s or 80s, really worthy of respect?


We must remember that we will become like the people we respect and admire.


If we keep respecting the people who became successful in the heydays of corruption, nepotism and cronyism, just because they are now old, how in the world are we supposed to cleanse ourselves of our past degeneracy and depravities.


Seen from that point of view, maybe what Akmal Saleh did, as ugly as it might seem on the surface, is what is the right thing for us to do, in order to prevent ourselves from being infected with the disease that had corrupted our elders.


Our elders in their 60s or 70s or 80s, especially if they have accumulated high position or great wealth in the past, when corruption and other degeneracies were rampant in the nation, need to perhaps be told that we can’t automatically grant them respect, unless they prove to us that they did not rise through cronyism, kleptocracy, corruption or nepotism.


If they can’t or if they are not confident that they can, then they should perhaps just fade into the background, because by default, we should be given to see their success as a product of depravities and debaucheries that are worth being condemned rather than respected.


Merit is not difficult to prove. The life of a person of integrity is the proof of their integrity. If a person has dedicated their life to accumulate knowledge or expertise, it can be determined upfront from the ability and expressions, and it will stand the test of investigation.


If it is true that there in the past, we were a nation that is riddled with corruption and other debaucheries, then our elders who have merit are likely not very successful or prominent in society today. If we want to cleanse ourselves from the sins of our past, we need to find them and give them the respect that they are due, instead of continuing to respect the elders who are prominent today, when logic should clearly tell us that the the prominent elderlies that we have today likely rose through corrupt means than otherwise.


Seen in this light, the way that someone young like Akmal denounced someone older like Nazri, might not be something that is wrong, but something that we should consider as the proper thing to do considering the circumstances that we are in.


It is not our fault that our elders are not worth respecting. It is theirs.


They should start to realise that, and do something to rehabilitate their image, rather than expect us to continue to live a lie, and treat them with respect and admiration, when it should be as clear as daylight that most of them might not be deserving of the respect and admiration they expect from us.

***

kt remarks: Even then, it's ultra BIADAB for a 30 yr old Malaysian to insult an elderly - But then who's the MOST Ultra-BIADAB in Malaysia? 😂😂😂

Cina kata "Peh-Boh boh kah-see"