Opportunistic politicians like you are the problem, lawyer flags Umno's Akmal

A rights lawyer has poured cold water on Akmal Saleh's attempt to portray himself as fair in his current campaign over the Jalur Gemilang, after the Umno Youth chief called for stern action against his own party for displaying an incorrect image of the national flag.

Zaid Malek of vocal rights group Lawyers for Liberty maintained that the series of flag gaffes in recent weeks was not the problem.

"The problem is the conduct of opportunistic and irresponsible politicians like Akmal who take advantage of innocent errors for political mileage," said Zaid, who has earlier offered to debate with Akmal on the issue.

He said Akmal was forced to condemn his own side after publicly attacking others for such mistakes.

"Had Akmal acted in decent and reasonable manner over the other flag mistakes, he would not have been put in the absurd position of having to call for police action upon his own youth wing members. Will Akmal learn his lesson?" he added.

Akmal, known for his penchant for issuing anti-DAP statements in what is a strategy to portray Umno as still relevant among its once loyal Malay vote bank, has in recent weeks called for action against a 59-year-old hardware shop owner in Penang after a video showed the Malaysian flag hanging upside down outside his shop.

It came on the heels of another upside down flag put up by a disabled person at a school in Port Dickson.

Yesterday, it was reported that a picture of Jalur Gemilang with the wrong number of stripes was shared by Terengganu Umno Youth on its Facebook page. Its chief, Tengku Haphiz Tengku Putera, has since apologised.

Akmal was earlier chided by Zaid for threatening to travel to Penang to conduct a “class” to teach the shopkeeper how to display the national flag if authorities failed to take action.

Zaid said the authorities should instead take action against Akmal for intimidation and bullying, and offered to "educate" the politician.

"I will be there at the store in Penang on Thursday to meet with Akmal and educate him that his actions are wrongful, and advise him to comply with the nation’s laws, including by not carrying out acts of intimidation or criminal trespass.

"I will advise him that he must not fan the flames of hatred within our society or harass ordinary members of the public through threats of vigilantism or mob tyranny. I will do this entirely by peaceful means. If necessary, I will stand there alone against Akmal and his mob," Zaid had said.

Zaid said Akmal displayed ignorance of the law with his current flag campaign.

"It is basic in law that a person can only be found guilty for an offence if they have the ‘intention’ to commit the offence. This is called ‘mens rea’ in legal language," he said.

He said both Terengganu Umno Youth and the Penang store-owner had no intention to insult the natiobal flag.

"The big fuss created by Akmal has no basis in law or common sense," said Zaid.

He said the police should be going after real crimes instead of investigating "every small flag mistake in the country".

"Mistakes happen, and every mistake is not a police case.

"No one should be subjected to criminal action for a simple blunder."