KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 — Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii has called on Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh to set a good example and refrain from verbal abuse following his recent verbal altercation with federal minister Nga Kor Ming.

The DAP parliamentarian said Dr Akmal should show exemplary behaviour in politics and not display immaturity by resorting to such name-calling when he said was not becoming of a minister of the unity government that Umno is also part of.

Dr Yii said Dr Akmal, as a young leader, should have used proper and mature arguments to refute the statement or to add constructive criticism to the issue at hand.

“Argue policy with policy, proposals with better proposals, discourse with mature discourse.

“Only then our politics can mature and really add value to our society,” he said in a statement tonight.

The DAP Youth national chief was commenting on Dr Akmal hitting out at Nga by calling him “dumb” for linking his boycotts to the country’s weak economy.

Dr Yii said politics cannot merely be reduced to name-calling or mudslinging which has degraded the national political discourse to the state it is in now.

He said using a mature approach should be the aspiration of all young leaders in Malaysia “as we push for a more mature democracy and politics to replace the politics of old that does not add value to society”.

Earlier, Dr Akmal called Nga “bodoh” following apparently blaming his boycott campaign for Malaysia’s weak economy.

The firebrand Merlimau assemblyman said that the country’s economy was weak due to ministers like Nga in the government.

Dr Akmal was responding to the housing and local government minister’s post on X, where he explained that the boycott campaign by irresponsible parties had ultimately led to Malaysian workers suffering the consequences.

In the same post, the DAP vice-chairman also advised the public not to be tricked into the boycott campaign trap by instigators.

It is understood that Nga had also meant the recent boycott campaigns that included international brands that were allegedly linked to the Zionist cause during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

On Tuesday, it was reported that Dr Akmal said he will abide by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim’s decree on defending the country’s unity and harmony and tempering the “Allah” socks controversy.

The youth leader vowed to uphold the decree to maintain the harmony of the country and preserve the purity of the Islamic religion to calm the ongoing polemic.

Last month, Dr Akmal was mired in controversy as he was the most vocal critics of KK Super Mart when the convenience store chain was caught up over the sale of socks with the word “Allah” embroidered on them.

However, only five pairs of the socks from over 18,000 imported from China were found to have the word “Allah”, suggesting the incident had likely been coincidental.

The owners of the convenience store chain have since apologised but have been charged for “intentionally hurting the feelings of Muslims”.

Despite the apology and court action, Dr Akmal was adamant and still called for a nationwide boycott of KK Super Mart outlets.

He has since been under police investigation for sedition.

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2024/04/12/bandar-kuching-mp-urges-umnos-dr-akmal-to-show-maturity-and-refrain-from-name-calling-after-put-down-of-daps-nga/128559