DEAR Datuk Dr Akmal Saleh,
There’s a photo of you sitting forlornly beside an earthen pond where your beloved tilapia swim happily.
You have since sold your motorcycle and farmed fish in an effort to pay the RM300,000 you owe Teresa Kok.
That is the amount the Malacca High Court ordered you to pay after the DAP lawmaker succeeded in suing you for defamation.
You behaved like a hero when Kok initiated legal proceedings against you in 2024.Your “no fear, no surrender” bombast in response to her legal action projected the image of a warrior unafraid to go to court and face the consequences.
Even after the court ruled against you, you continued to project yourself as an indefatigable fighter who would never “back down from those in power”.
Since DAP is part of the unity government, your attacks on Kok also amount to taking aim at a party with which you disagree on almost every national issue.
But, as you proclaimed, you would not readily give in to despair. You were determined to pay off your debt.
So, you decided to sell off your “beloved assets” with a “heavy heart”. The proceeds from their sale, however, were not enough to cover the full amount.
As a last resort, you might have had to launch a public “Save Akmal” campaign.
It would have been much like the fundraising campaign launched to help pay the RM50 mil fine imposed as a condition for the release of your former boss from Kajang Prison.
Your wrongdoing pales in comparison with Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s but, nevertheless, who wants to donate to a cause that is neither edifying nor worthy?
You defamed someone unnecessarily. Why, then, should Malaysians rally to your side?We remember the stink you raised over numerous issues that risked inflaming racial or religious animosity. So, who would want to open their wallets to help a politician whose brand of politics has been so divisive?
Your court battle was not fought over some matter of national importance that Malaysians could readily identify with and support. No. Your case was about manners, or the lack of them.
Malaysians expect a higher standard of behaviour from you, given your senior position in UMNOas its Youth chief. Perhaps one day, you may even become a minister in a Barisan Nasional-led government.
Yet, your style of politics has too often been divisive, when what the country sorely needs is “civility and integrity in speech” so that “society can be strengthened”.
Perhaps only your close friends or some Umno members will come to your aid. But as for the public at large, do not expect anyone to hug you or cry buckets over your plight.
You may cut a lonely figure, but do not expect an outpouring of sympathy.
You asked the public to pray for you. But the only prayer Malaysia wants to hear is one asking for protection from demagogues, opportunists and extremists.‒Oct 28, 2026
Phlip Rodrigues is a retired journalist.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
Main image: Facebook/Akmal Saleh
