FMT:
Akmal disobeyed Zahid twice, claims Umno Supreme Council member
3 hours ago
Alfian Tahir
Lokman Noor Adam says party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi should not have approved Dr Akmal Saleh’s special Umno Youth convention
Umno Supreme Council member Lokman Noor Adam (left) claimed that youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh previously broke promises made to party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
PETALING JAYA: Umno Supreme Council member Lokman Noor Adam has accused Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh of disobeying party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on two occasions.
Lokman said Zahid should not have given Akmal the go-ahead to hold the special Umno Youth convention last Saturday.
He said this was because of an earlier incident in Kepala Batas last year, when Akmal allegedly broke a promise to Zahid following a controversy over the Malaysian flag being displayed upside down.
“Akmal lied. There should have been no permission granted for him to hold the convention,” he told FMT.
FMT had previously reported that Zahid agreed to the convention only on the condition that there would be no discussion of withdrawing from the unity government and no criticism of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Lokman went on to say that Akmal had promised not to attend the Kepala Batas gathering.
“The president himself thanked him for deciding not to proceed. But a few days later, he attended the gathering anyway,” he said.
On Aug 10 last year, Akmal said the Umno Youth wing would visit a business premises in Kepala Batas after the upside-down flag incident. The following day, the gathering was postponed due to unavoidable circumstances.
Despite this, on Aug 14, Akmal led over 500 Umno Youth members in a march from the night market in Kepala Batas to a hardware store linked to the incident, covering roughly 1.4km.
When Akmal opened the convention on Saturday, he claimed that the assembly had been approved by Zahid.
He also claimed that Zahid told him that he would back calls by grassroots members to exit the unity government.
Akmal said this in response to claims that he did not get Zahid’s blessing to hold the convention and that he was going against the party leadership.
He was reported to have said: “I want to make it clear – Zahid was the first person to agree to this convention. I told him that if we were to ‘pull the handbrake’ and leave the government today, he would be the first to be targeted.
“But Zahid told me that if this is what the grassroots want, he is prepared to fight all the way.”
Lokman said Zahid should not have given Akmal the go-ahead to hold the special Umno Youth convention last Saturday.
He said this was because of an earlier incident in Kepala Batas last year, when Akmal allegedly broke a promise to Zahid following a controversy over the Malaysian flag being displayed upside down.
“Akmal lied. There should have been no permission granted for him to hold the convention,” he told FMT.
FMT had previously reported that Zahid agreed to the convention only on the condition that there would be no discussion of withdrawing from the unity government and no criticism of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Lokman went on to say that Akmal had promised not to attend the Kepala Batas gathering.
“The president himself thanked him for deciding not to proceed. But a few days later, he attended the gathering anyway,” he said.
On Aug 10 last year, Akmal said the Umno Youth wing would visit a business premises in Kepala Batas after the upside-down flag incident. The following day, the gathering was postponed due to unavoidable circumstances.
Despite this, on Aug 14, Akmal led over 500 Umno Youth members in a march from the night market in Kepala Batas to a hardware store linked to the incident, covering roughly 1.4km.
When Akmal opened the convention on Saturday, he claimed that the assembly had been approved by Zahid.
He also claimed that Zahid told him that he would back calls by grassroots members to exit the unity government.
Akmal said this in response to claims that he did not get Zahid’s blessing to hold the convention and that he was going against the party leadership.
He was reported to have said: “I want to make it clear – Zahid was the first person to agree to this convention. I told him that if we were to ‘pull the handbrake’ and leave the government today, he would be the first to be targeted.
“But Zahid told me that if this is what the grassroots want, he is prepared to fight all the way.”
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