Don't act like a hero, just fight in next GE, Akmal tells Shamsul

More Umno leaders have criticised the prime minister’s senior political secretary, Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin, after he claimed he was instructed not to call for a recount after his defeat to Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in the 2022 general election.

Most recently, Umno Youth chief Muhamad Akmal Saleh and Umno Puteri chief Nurul Amal Mohd Fauzi urged Shamsul not to make baseless speculations.

“These elections are governed by laws.

“If you believe you could win or are dissatisfied, file a complaint with the Election Commission within the stipulated time, rather than making cheap speculations like this, as if you are handing the victory to Zahid,” Akmal said in a Facebook post today.

“Victory is victory, and defeat is defeat, according to the law. There’s no need to act like a hero. Fight again in the next election. What’s the problem?” added the Merlimau assemblyperson from Malacca.

Akmal also questioned whether Shamsul was similarly forced not to call for a vote recount when he lost the Paya Rumput state seat during the 2021 Malacca state election.

Meanwhile, Nurul argued that there was no issue of “killing” democracy but rather that Shamsul did not understand the democratic process.

She explained that recounts only occur at the polling station level, and only if the vote margin between the candidates is lower than four percent.

“If there is no recount at the polling station, the presiding officer will announce the result in Form 14 after the counting is complete and all the ballots have been placed in the ballot box.

“All ballot boxes and Form 14 will be brought to the tallying centre, where the totals from Form 14 will be combined to produce the final result.

“The winner will be announced after receiving all the Form 14 results (from the polling stations). If there are any disputes or protests, the candidate should file a petition,” she said in a Facebook post.

‘Stop politicising issue’

Nurul said the losing candidate has no power to request a recount at the tallying centre.

“This is just a story they made up to sweeten the narrative. Therefore, the claim of ‘killing democracy’ does not hold water because if there had been any backdoor collaboration, Zahid wouldn’t have had to sacrifice his seat with such a narrow victory,” she added.

She then called all parties to stop politicising the issue, as it does nothing to improve the people’s livelihoods or create job opportunities.

In a recent podcast, Shamsul claimed he did not challenge the results of the Bagan Datuk contest due to the “bigger picture” of the country’s political future, despite Zahid’s slim majority of 348 votes.

Although disappointed, the PKR leader said he chose to let the matter go after a late-night conversation with Anwar at 2am.

Shamsul claimed that after being assured that a government was being formed, he followed the “general’s orders”.

His remarks have since drawn criticism from Umno and PAS.

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