00:00The fiery rhetoric and tactics of UMNO Youth Chief Dr. Akmal Saleh in the national flag
00:05controversy could end up killing Barca Nacional and damaging Pakatan Harpan, says a former MCA
00:11vice president. T. Lian Kerr said Akmal's theatrics would not win more Malay votes for UMNO,
00:16but instead would alienate BN's traditional Chinese and Indian supporters. He said Akmal's
00:22tactics were textbook UMNO, especially in the post-Tungku Abdurrahman era. He said such tactics
00:28may backfire now, especially with a more progressive and well-informed crowd, adding
00:32that voters are more sophisticated and would look past such theatrics. The former deputy unity minister
00:38told FMT that demonizing the Chinese as the bogeyman or making the community the punching bag is no
00:44longer as effective as before. He said Chinese and Indian voters backing MCA and MIC are frustrated
00:50with UMNO for seemingly giving Akmal carte blanche, referring to Akmal's party colleagues like Supreme
00:55Council member Puat Zakashi, defending his actions. He said there were already rumblings on the ground
01:01about voting for pass in protest against the unity government, in which BN and PH are partners,
01:06claiming that there had been previous talk about boycotting the elections altogether.
01:10Donish Roger Rizzo, FMT.
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