Malaysians against the disrespectful behavior of Akmal Saleh and a Memorandum for National Harmony

“Self-proclaimed Malay, Muslim champion Akmal Saleh is ...

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Malaysians against the disrespectful behavior of Akmal ...

ACADEMICIAN and political commentator Prof Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi is seen to be spearheading a campaign to clamp down the rightist influence of UMNO Youth chief Datuk Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh.

This follows the issuance of a six-sided joint statement entitled “Malaysians Against the Disrespectful Behaviour of Akmal Saleh and a Memorandum for National Harmony” led by him.“Self-proclaimed Malay, Muslim champion Akmal Saleh is ...

“Self-proclaimed Malay, Muslim champion Akmal Saleh is ...

*As a *As a patriotic Malaysians & for Nation building, calling all rakyat to viral this declaration message! Help do our little bit for our beloved Malaysia*

*Malaysians against the disrespectful behavior of Akmal Saleh and a Memorandum for National Harmony*

*Joint Statement*

1.Prof Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi

2.Mohamed Tawfik Tun Dr. Ismail

3.Mohamed bin Halim 

4.Choy Meng Hooi

5.Poh Teik Heng

6.Dr Mohd. Razif b Mohd. Ali

We have seen just barely two months have passed of the new year 2025 that Malaysia is slipping further and further into disharmony. After almost 70 years of Merdeka we may have failed to honor the founding fathers of this country the likes of  Tun Dato’ Sir Onn Jaafar, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun V.T. Sambanthan and Tun Sir Tan Cheng Lock. The recent JAKIM furore over needless guidelines for Muslims visiting and interacting with non-Muslims marks a social fissure that may cause a total collapse of nation building by dividing communities in our country  forever.

In the light of these serious social and religious crisis, one person stands out as the epitome and example of nation disharmony; the politician from UMNO Akmal Saleh. As a people’s representative in Melaka, a State with a long history of integration and racial harmony, as an Exco of the state and as head of the UMNO Youth, Akmal has sown discord after discord in his relentless attacks on non-Malay personalities on issues of race and religion, in spite of swearing an oath to uphold the Constitution. We Malaysians respect Akmal Saleh for being a self proclaimed ‘champion’ of the Malays and of the Muslims but we totally disagree with his socially and spiritually destructive methods and statements. He had taunted a veteran Chinese politician as Nyonya Tua. He had called on Malays to boycott a Chinese businessman ‘sampai bankrap’. He had called a Chinese Minister of the Unity Government as ‘stupid’. He had recently called out a young Chinese MP to ‘better die’. His manner of speaking can easily be interpreted as menacing, threatening and certainly insulting.

He should follow the example of Melaka statesmen like the late Tun Abdul Ghafar.

If we have a young politician leaders like this who influences many online members of his same race as well as members of his own political party and other Malay based political parties, how are we going to rebuild this nation through the idea of ‘kesopanan dan kesusilaan’? The core foundational values of social, political and religious harmony are respect and according dignity to all faiths, race and cultures. Inherent in the concept of respect and dignity are speaking and debating with decorum, knowledge and courtesy. 

We Malaysians ask that Akmal Salleh apologises to all Malaysians unreservedly for his past and present behavior and a promise of upholding the Rukunegara. We Malaysians, in turn, promises to forgive and begin our relationship with him in a clean slate.

We also ask UMNO to ensure that it advises and reprimand all of its members that act like Akmal Saleh in the future, and remind them of the Rukun Negara and the Federal Constitution and the laws enacted after the May 13 tragedy to ensure harmony and peace, formulated by an Umno-led admimistration.

Finally, we Malaysians would like to think and hope that Akmal Saleh can be a good and responsible leader to educate our future generation about the importance and sanctity of social and religious harmony. We Malaysians would also like to think that UMNO can be trusted with a new mandate of governance by abiding to the core values of respecting all faiths and race. We Malaysians will not tolerate and will campaign against any and all parties that would destroy the delicate and sacred harmony between our communities. The task of rebuilding this nation through respect and harmony lies not with any government ministry but unto each and every responsible citizens of Malaysia.

*Signatories*

1.Prof Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi

2.Mohamed Tawfik Tun Dr. Ismail

3.Mohamed bin Halim 

4.Choy Meng Hooi

5.Poh Teik Heng

6.Dr Mohd. Razif b Mohd. Ali.                    Malaysians & for Nation building, calling all rakyat to viral this declaration message! Help do our little bit for our beloved Malaysia*

*Malaysians against the disrespectful behavior of Akmal Saleh and a Memorandum for National Harmony*

*Joint Statement*

1.Prof Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi

2.Mohamed Tawfik Tun Dr. Ismail

3.Mohamed bin Halim 

4.Choy Meng Hooi

5.Poh Teik Heng

6.Dr Mohd. Razif b Mohd. Ali

We have seen just barely two months have passed of the new year 2025 that Malaysia is slipping further and further into disharmony. After almost 70 years of Merdeka we may have failed to honor the founding fathers of this country the likes of  Tun Dato’ Sir Onn Jaafar, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun V.T. Sambanthan and Tun Sir Tan Cheng Lock. The recent JAKIM furore over needless guidelines for Muslims visiting and interacting with non-Muslims marks a social fissure that may cause a total collapse of nation building by dividing communities in our country  forever.

In the light of these serious social and religious crisis, one person stands out as the epitome and example of nation disharmony; the politician from UMNO Akmal Saleh. As a people’s representative in Melaka, a State with a long history of integration and racial harmony, as an Exco of the state and as head of the UMNO Youth, Akmal has sown discord after discord in his relentless attacks on non-Malay personalities on issues of race and religion, in spite of swearing an oath to uphold the Constitution. We Malaysians respect Akmal Saleh for being a self proclaimed ‘champion’ of the Malays and of the Muslims but we totally disagree with his socially and spiritually destructive methods and statements. He had taunted a veteran Chinese politician as Nyonya Tua. He had called on Malays to boycott a Chinese businessman ‘sampai bankrap’. He had called a Chinese Minister of the Unity Government as ‘stupid’. He had recently called out a young Chinese MP to ‘better die’. His manner of speaking can easily be interpreted as menacing, threatening and certainly insulting.

He should follow the example of Melaka statesmen like the late Tun Abdul Ghafar.

If we have a young politician leaders like this who influences many online members of his same race as well as members of his own political party and other Malay based political parties, how are we going to rebuild this nation through the idea of ‘kesopanan dan kesusilaan’? The core foundational values of social, political and religious harmony are respect and according dignity to all faiths, race and cultures. Inherent in the concept of respect and dignity are speaking and debating with decorum, knowledge and courtesy. 

We Malaysians ask that Akmal Salleh apologises to all Malaysians unreservedly for his past and present behavior and a promise of upholding the Rukunegara. We Malaysians, in turn, promises to forgive and begin our relationship with him in a clean slate.

We also ask UMNO to ensure that it advises and reprimand all of its members that act like Akmal Saleh in the future, and remind them of the Rukun Negara and the Federal Constitution and the laws enacted after the May 13 tragedy to ensure harmony and peace, formulated by an Umno-led admimistration.

Finally, we Malaysians would like to think and hope that Akmal Saleh can be a good and responsible leader to educate our future generation about the importance and sanctity of social and religious harmony. We Malaysians would also like to think that UMNO can be trusted with a new mandate of governance by abiding to the core values of respecting all faiths and race. We Malaysians will not tolerate and will campaign against any and all parties that would destroy the delicate and sacred harmony between our communities. The task of rebuilding this nation through respect and harmony lies not with any government ministry but unto each and every responsible citizens of Malaysia.

*Signatories*

1.Prof Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi

2.Mohamed Tawfik Tun Dr. Ismail

3.Mohamed bin Halim 

4.Choy Meng Hooi

5.Poh Teik Heng

6.Dr Mohd. Razif b Mohd. Ali.     

USA, a nation of ‘wrong’ people

 

Even more than in his first term, Trump has mounted a fundamental challenge to the norms and expectations of what a president can and should do. — ©2025 The New York Times Company

IN its early days, the second Trump administration is delivering a clear message: the United States is full of the wrong kind of people.

Federal civil servants, for example, have been deemed the wrong kind of people.

Their political and ideological allegian­ces are questionable, their ideas destructive and their low-productivity jobs not worth their salaries.

Too many are lawbreakers or just “evil”.

Whether they toil at the US Agency for International Development or the Treasury, the CIA or the Food and Drug Administration, in Washington or throughout the country, they should look upon that fork in the road and opt to resign. In some cases, they should be purged.

Children born in the United States to parents in the country illegally – or to parents who are here legally but only temporarily, such as people on work or student visas – are also the wrong people.

They are not true Americans and should not be granted the “gift” of citizenship.

Refugees and asylum-seekers are the wrong kind of people and should be prevented from entering the country.

Transgender Americans lack the “humility and selflessness” needed in the US armed forces, according to a Trump executive order, and can no longer serve.

Former officials such as Mark Milley, who served as chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the first Trump administration, are disloyal and undeserving of government protection or even of a Pentagon portrait.

And anyone fitting a “diversity” category of any kind is automatically suspect, a convenient scapegoat whenever something – wildfires, plane crashes – goes wrong.

It’s a familiar political impulse, with antecedents that predate President Donald Trump’s terms in office.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, mused about the virtues of “real America” – those patriotic small towns that make up the “pro-America areas of this great nation.” (She later offered one of those I’m-sorry-if-it-came-out-wrong apologies.)

But now we’ve gone from praising real America to parsing real Americans. And the audit is being conducted by a vengeful and decidedly unapologetic executive.

If, according to the Trump administration, so many people in the United States are the wrong kind of people, who makes up the right kind? Who belongs in the country – in the military, the government?

The administration invokes meritocracy as one way to answer those questions.

As Trump put it in an executive order on his second day in office, “individual merit, aptitude, hard work and determination” should be the overriding factors when hiring workers, not just in government but throughout “key sectors of American society”.

This directive might be more persuasive if Trump had followed it when selecting key members of his administration.

Did Matt Gaetz, Trump’s first pick to serve as attorney-general, possess the individual merit needed to lead the Justice Department? Does Tulsi Gabbard have the aptitude required to become director of national intelligence, or Robert F. Kennedy Jr to oversee the Department of Health and Human Services? Is Pete Hegseth the hardest-working option to run the Defence Department?

The answer is evident. Their merit is not found in professional experience or outstanding qualifications, but in their fealty to the president. (When new appointees are hailed as disrupters, remember that in the Trump era “disruptive” is a euphemism for “obedient.”)

The racial imperative behind determining the right and wrong people – recall, for example, Trump’s disdain for outsiders who supposedly poison the national bloodstream – fuses with arguments over merit.

Darren Beattie, a former Trump speechwriter who has been named acting undersecretary of public diplomacy at the State Department, wrote late last year that “competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work”.

It would be one thing simply to roll back the excesses of diversity, equity and inclusion programmes throughout the federal government, but this worldview takes that process to its illogical extreme: if the quest for a diverse workforce is prohibited, its opposite must be the best, the only, workforce possible.

During his campaign for the US Senate in 2021, JD Vance told a conservative podcast host that, should Trump regain the presidency, he needed to “fire every single mid-level bureaucrat” and proceed to “replace them with our people”.

His use of “our people” is striking, mainly because one wonders who the future vice-president had in his mind. Who counts as “our people” to this administration? Which marker of belonging makes someone theirs?

Trump has often referred to people in the first-person possessive.

At times, he alludes to a category of people, as in “my judges” or “my generals”, but he has also claimed title to specific individuals, as in “my two Steves” (referring to Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller) and, in the case of one unfortunate former House speaker, “my Kevin”.

Trump has also longed to see “my people” sit up at attention for him the way North Koreans do for Kim Jong-un.

With this last line, with “my people”, Trump may have been referring to his aides and underlings, or perhaps to his party, or maybe to the “Make America Great Again” movement, or to voters, or even Americans overall.

That ambiguity captures the risks and the power inherent in a notion like “we the people”.

When it does not include everyone, when it is malleable and shifting, you never know who counts, for how long, and who makes the calculation.

Does Trump determine who is the right kind of person for America today? Does the Office of Management and Budget pick? Does Elon Musk decide who is part of the future and who gets tossed into the wood chipper?

Belonging has long been elusive in America, a “we” contested by wealth, race, sex and ancestry.

In his second inaugural address, Trump warned that “our government confronts a crisis of trust”, but he also declared that, with his election victory, “national unity is now returning to America”.

One could dismiss this vision of renewed civic harmony as an obligatory line, or just more Trumpian self-regard rather than a faithful reflection of reality.

But that misses the administration’s underlying project.

National unity is indeed returning – if, that is, your conception of the nation is limited to those on your side, if only some of the people are really “the people”.

This president prefers to lead a nation in which belonging is constantly up for grabs, in which certain people are the wrong kind and others are the right kind, in which some are real Americans and others will never be.

The result is not just a crisis of trust in our government, but in each other. — ©2025 The New York Times Company

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America First or America Alone?

Leading through change

 

LIKE many Malaysians, I often have to remind my colleagues, neighbours and friends that chat groups are not the best place to discuss politics, especially topics on race relations and religion.

Some of us often forget that participants in chat groups may not necessarily share the same sentiments and enthusiasm. Chat groups are created for specific agendas and purposes, but we do go off-track sometimes.

The workplace is no different. Divergent opinions can lead to creativity and better ways of doing things once a consensus is reached. However, it can also result in strong disagreements and even conflict, potentially breaking a team.

As managers, we are familiar with such situations. Managers must always think about how best to manage divergent opinions in professional settings.

As we come to the end of 2024 and brace for an uncertain 2025, in times of political upheaval, such as the new US president and increased geopolitical tensions affecting every region in the world, it is also a good time to focus on managing our backyard.

With 2025 on the horizon, it is a good time to focus on managing our backyard

The bigger challenge requiring managers’ attention in 2025 is the march of AI

AI will impact every department and section, with no exceptions

Being respectful and professional is always key, according to the Chartered Management Institute’s (CMI) tips for managers – be brave enough to shut down conversations if they make some colleagues feel uncomfortable.

It is important to remind teams that the workplace is not always the best place for heated political discussions, especially if they prove unproductive and inconsequential to work.

The bigger challenge requiring managers’ attention in 2025 is the march of artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace. Forget about scheming and untrustworthy politicians.

AI is the number one priority – the better it is managed, the more likely organisations are to adopt it successfully and avoid potential pitfalls. The good news is that the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) believes that a significant portion of companies in Malaysia are proactive in this regard.

MEF president Datuk Syed Hussain Syed Husman cites the Cisco AI Readiness Index survey conducted in November last year, which revealed that 46% of Malaysian organisations are prepared to adopt AI technology in line with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0). The study indicated that 13% of these entities are fully ready, with an additional 33% classified as partially ready.

For AI to take off, the positive impact of management and leadership on organisational performance is well-documented, including by Haskel et al (2007) in the United Kingdom and Bloom et al (2010), which found better management led to productivity increases of 13% to 17%.

Data from the UK’S Office of National Statistics shows that companies with high management practices are significantly more likely to drive tech and AI adoption. The research found that companies with top-tier management scores are significantly more likely to adopt AI (37% in the top decile compared to just 3% in the bottom) and to recognise its relevance.

While only 32% of top-performing companies see AI as inapplicable, this figure rises sharply to 74% among those with lower management scores.

However, CMI research reveals that anxiety around AI technologies remains widespread, with over two in five (44%) UK managers reporting concerns raised by colleagues and direct reports about new and emerging AI tools within their organisations.

Alarmingly, fewer than one in 10 managers (9%) believe their organisation is adequately equipped to work with AI, with most receiving little to no training on how to manage or integrate these technologies effectively.

Researchers have found that managers will increasingly play a critical role in interpreting Ai-generated insights, ensuring these align with organisational goals, and making judgment calls that require human intuition and ethical consideration.

AI will impact every department and section, with no exceptions. For the human resources manager, they will need to determine whether AI is writing recruits’ curriculum-vitae and cover letters.

If so, should this be a cause for concern? Are graduates making themselves more attractive to employers by demonstrating a willingness to use AI? Or does this come across as lazy or lacking in creativity?

What does it tell potential employers? Is it deceitful or clever? And should employers be using Ai-detection software?

For news editors in TV studios and newsrooms, shouldn’t they be leading the charge to use AI to eliminate tedious work, allowing staff to focus on creativity and more purposeful tasks?

As we end the year, some companies are still struggling with hybrid working.

It is safe to say that most Malaysian employers have insisted their staff return to the office physically.

This will also be the last year when public listed companies are allowed to conduct annual general meetings for shareholders solely online.

Beginning next year, public listed companies must have physical annual general meetings, with online participation as an additional option.

As we approach the fifth anniversary of the pandemic, the challenge for 2025 will be for managers to ensure they get it right.

For Malaysian managers still holding on to the hybrid workplace, they would know by now if it is still effective. - WONG CHUN WAI Award-winning veteran journalist and Bernama chairman

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Heralding the Golden Age of Cryptocurrency

 ■ Presidentelect Donald Trump’s embrace of cryptocurrencies marks a pivotal moment

■ Analysts projecting Bitcoin to reach US$200,000 by end-2025

■ The outlook for Bitcoin and the broader crypto market is overwhelmingly positive, but risks remain

THE cryptocurrency world is buzzing with speculation that bitcoin could reach an unprecedented US$200,000 by 2025. While bitcoin has yet to stabilise around the US$100,000 mark, its meteoric rise in 2024 has emboldened investors and analysts to project a bullish future for the world’s leading digital asset.

Bitwise Asset Management, a prominent voice in the crypto sphere, has described the upcoming year as the Golden Age of Crypto.

According to the firm, the regulatory landscape in the United States has significantly improved following the 2024 US elections. President-elect Donald Trump’s embrace of cryptocurrencies marks a pivotal moment.

“We believe we are entering the Golden Age of Crypto,” Bitwise analysts, led by chief investment officer Matt Hougan and head of research Ryan Rasmussen, state in the group’s report.

Bitwise expects Crypto’s magnificent three – Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solanato – to hit new all-time highs in 2025, with bitcoin leading the rise to trade above US$200,000.

In addition to Bitwise, other analysts projecting bitcoin to reach US$200,000 include Geoff Kendrick, head of crypto research at Standard Chartered, and analysts at Bernstein, led by Gautam Chhugani.

Kendrick forecasts that bitcoin could hit this milestone by the end of 2025, driven by institutional investments in bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFS).

In a recent note, he stated that Standard Chartered’s target of US$200,000 by 2025 is “achievable”, adding: “We would become even more bullish if bitcoin experienced accelerated adoption by US retirement funds, global sovereign wealth funds, or the establishment of a potential US strategic reserve fund.

“We anticipate institutional flows to continue at or exceed the pace set in 2024. Microstrategy, for instance, is ahead of its Us$42bil threeyear plan, suggesting its purchases in 2025 will likely match or surpass those of 2024.”

Meanwhile, Bernstein’s analysts attribute their bitcoin price target of US$200,000 by end-2025 to unprecedented demand stemming from spot bitcoin ETFS managed by leading asset managers, according to media reports.

Trump effect

Essentially, crypto has emerged as a clear winner in the 2024 US elections, giving it a brighter regulatory outlook in the United States, Bitwise notes.

For one thing, Trump has announced plans to create a strategic bitcoin reserve and nominated Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary. Bessent’s earlier comment that “crypto is about freedom and the crypto economy is here to stay” reflects the administration’s pro-crypto stance. The reshuffling of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which has historically taken a sceptical view of digital assets, adds another layer of optimism.

Similarly, Bernstein analysts attribute bitcoin’s rise to Trump’s support for cryptocurrencies. They point out that his plan to position the United States as a global leader in the crypto space and his choice of Paul Atkins, a known crypto advocate, to lead the SEC have bolstered market confidence.

Record highs

Bitcoin has since cooled to below US$95,000 at the time of writing, after reaching an alltime high of US$103,992 earlier this month.

This marks a 141.72% increase year-to-date as of Dec 6, 2024. According to Bitwise, the surge was largely driven by the US launch of spot bitcoin ETFS, which set records with Us$33.6bil in inflows within their first year.

Other crypto assets, including Ethereum and Solana, also posted substantial year-to-date gains of 75.77% and 127.71%, respectively. This performance highlights how cryptocurrencies, led by bitcoin, ethereum and solana, have outpaced all major asset classes in 2024.

Crypto equities mirrored this bullish trend. Companies like Microstrategy and Coinbase saw their shares skyrocket by 525.39% and 97.57%, respectively. In comparison, traditional assets such as the S&P 500 and gold returned 28.07% and 27.65% over the same period, highlighting crypto’s dominance.

Catalysts for next milestone

The factors driving bitcoin’s trajectory towards US$200,000 are multifaceted, Bitwise highlights. The launch of bitcoin

ETFS in 2024 shattered expectations, and Bitwise believes 2025 will see even greater inflows.

“When US spot bitcoin ETFS launched in January 2024, ETF experts forecast the group to see Us$5bil to Us$15bil of inflows in their first year. They passed the higher end of that range within the first six months.

“Since launching, the record-setting ETFS have gathered Us$33.6bil in inflows. We expect 2025’s inflows to top that,” Bitwise says.

Drawing a parallel with gold ETFS launched in 2004, Bitwise notes that ETF inflows typically accelerate in subsequent years.

“The best historical analogy we have for the bitcoin ETF launch is the launch of gold ETFS in 2004. Flows petering out would be unusual,” it explains.

At present, major financial institutions such as Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, and Bank of America have yet to fully embrace bitcoin ETFS.

Bitwise anticipates this to change in 2025, unlocking a wave of institutional investments. “The trillions of dollars these firms manage will start flowing into bitcoin ETFS,” Bitwise predicts.

Risk tolerance

While bitcoin remains the focal point, other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Solana are also poised for substantial gains in 2025. Bitwise’s price targets for Ethereum and Solana are US$7,000 and US$750, respectively.

Ethereum, despite its impressive 2024 performance, has faced competition from fastergrowing programmable blockchains.

However, Bitwise anticipates a “narrative shift” as activity on

Layer 2 blockchains and spot Ethereum ETFS gain traction.

Solana’s resurgence, driven by memecoin mania in 2024, is also expected to continue as serious projects migrate to its network, it says.

Meanwhile, JP Morgan points out that the role of crypto in portfolio construction is mostly a function of risk tolerance.

“Cryptocurrencies are inherently unpredictable: there is little visibility into future price movements and blockchain technology, while exciting, also has few barriers to entry, meaning tokens can become obsolete (and therefore worthless) as new ones enter the market with improved functionality,” the US asset management company cautions.

“As a result, for most investors, any allocation to crypto in a portfolio should be kept both small enough to ensure that even in the event of a significant sell-off it does not derail overall portfolio objectives and well diversified,” it adds.

While the outlook for bitcoin and the broader crypto market is overwhelmingly positive, risks remain.

Regulatory clarity, though improving, is still a work in progress.

The global economic environment, including interest-rate policies and geopolitical tensions, could also impact investor sentiment.

However, the convergence of favourable regulatory developments, institutional adoption and technological advancements positions bitcoin as a strong contender to achieve new heights, potentially reshaping the global financial landscape.

By CECILIA kok cecilia_kok@thestar.com.my

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