Umno Youth chief lauds Zahid for welcoming former members back, says party must strengthen internally
KUALA LUMPUR: Umno Youth chief Datuk Dr Mohamad Akmal Salleh expressed his respect for party president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for opening the door to former members who had left Umno to return to the party.
“If we want to strengthen Umno, we must strengthen it from within. Those who are sulking, angry or disappointed, we must bring them back and gather them again in our own home,” he said during his winding-up speech at the Umno 2025 General Assembly at the World Trade Centre here today.
Akmal said if there was anyone within Umno who had reason to feel hurt by public criticism and insults, it would be Ahmad Zahid himself.
“What hasn’t been said about the president? All kinds of accusations have been thrown at him, including podcasts such as ‘Keluar Sekejap’,” he said, referring to former Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar, who was expelled from the party in 2023.
Despite this, Akmal said Ahmad Zahid had remained big-hearted and continued to open the widest possible space for former party leaders or individuals to return to Umno.
He added that although Khairy had previously been critical of Ahmad Zahid, the Umno president bore no grudge and had openly allowed Khairy to return to Dewan Merdeka to attend the Umno Youth assembly on Thursday.
Akmal was referring to Ahmad Zahid’s policy speech yesterday, in which the Umno president welcomed the return of all those who had left the party, describing Umno as the Home of Unity of the Malays.
Meanwhile, Akmal said his decision to relinquish his position as a Melaka state executive councillor was driven by his understanding of grassroots unease over Umno’s cooperation with DAP within the unity government.
As such, he urged all party members and leaders to speak honestly about realities on the ground without fear or pretence, so that Ahmad Zahid would be fully aware of the sentiments among the grassroots.
He said that if Umno were to be defeated in the next election, the person who would be ridiculed would be none other than Ahmad Zahid himself.
According to Akmal, as the party’s youth chief, he could not bear to see Ahmad Zahid being subjected to criticism and mockery from any quarter.
“Usually, it is the most rebellious child who loves his father the most.”
