New Bersatu Youth chief must be vocal like Akmal: Wan Fayhsal

Outgoing Bersatu Youth chief Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal has expressed his desire for his successor to be as outspoken as Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh.

Wan Fayhsal emphasised that the party’s next youth chief must be vocal on various issues, including those of national importance.

“There is a need for a visionary leader able to take on the government.

“It’s not enough to shoot blindly. You need to have a strategy and become the spokesperson for the rakyat,” he said, as reported by Free Malaysia Today.

Although Umno and Bersatu are not part of the same coalition, both youth wings are targeting the same demographic: young Malays.

After leading the party’s youth wing since 2020, Wan Fayhsal will step down due to reaching the age limit.

In the upcoming party election, the wing’s permanent chairperson, Akmal Zahin Zainal Zahir, and Gombak Setia assemblyperson Hilman Idham will contest the youth chief position.

Akmal is well-known for his outspokenness on various issues, particularly Malay and Islamic matters.

He previously criticised DAP vice-chairperson Teresa Kok for questioning the proposal to mandate halal certification for restaurants and food companies that do not serve pork or alcohol.

Earlier this year, Akmal also made headlines for his fiery stance about the sale of socks featuring the word “Allah”.

‘Clean and scandal-free’

Meanwhile, Wan Fayhsal also stressed that the next Bersatu youth chief must be “clean and scandal-free” and capable of holding Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim accountable without hesitation.

He said that Malaysian youths are now uninterested in leaders carrying political baggage and are looking for someone with integrity.

He warned that leaders with compromised backgrounds would jeopardise the opposition’s ability to retain its core supporters, especially conservative Malays and Umno supporters who had turned to PN in protest.

“If we lose the trust of our core supporters because of problematic leaders, we will lose the next general election,” he said.

Wan Fayhsal also stressed the importance of working closely with PAS Youth, which he credited as the key to the opposition’s success in winning Malay-majority seats in the last general election.

He said that the Perikatan Nasional Youth machinery, which he had built in collaboration with PAS Youth, was highly confident and operated without any distrust.

“To create such a good working relationship needs time and a person with integrity, a quality which PAS Youth would never have any reservations about,” he explained.

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