UMNO AGM | Popular TV personality Azwan Ali has condemned songstress Sheila Majid for publicly complaining about rising cost-of-living issues.

Azwan told reporters at the sidelines of the Umno general assembly that he was shocked that Sheila, a person whom he respected, would make such remarks.

"Her whining will spoil the new generation. You are a major artiste. Successful. Has a Datuk title. Rich. You have millions of followers.

"Is this not because of the government? Go to hell!" Azwan said.

Azwan said that Sheila's (photo) comment was "suicidal" and accused her of forgetting that she had benefited from BN.

"She is influential. A diva should use 'common sense' and not get emotional. People respect her. By making such statements, it is suicidal.

"What she says won't affect BN. Najib doesn't need entertainers to win elections. Najib is too big a name," he said.

Azwan is primarily known for hosting TV programmes. He is also the elder brother of Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali.

On Monday, Sheila Majid set tongues wagging after she tweeted about cost-of-living and unemployment issues.

She also suggested that Malaysians are angry for "being squeezed" over "debts we did not create".

At the time of writing, her tweet had been retweeted 17,223 times and "liked" 10,083 times.

The tweet had attracted an equal mix of praise and brickbats from netizens.

Her comment had struck a chord with Pakatan Harapan chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who praised her for speaking up for Malaysians. 

Sheila's tweet came a few days after actress Nur Fathia Latiff tweeted her displeasure over the Royal Commission of Inquiry findings on Bank Negara's forex exchange losses in the 1990s.

Fathia had suggested that it would be better to investigate bank deposits to "someone's" personal accounts.

This earned her a warning from Rizal Mansor, the aide to the prime minister's wife Rosmah Mansor, who told her to stick to entertaining instead of politics.