My Conversation With Akmal Saleh

Added: 2026-05-11

[00:00:00]Akmal Saleh, one of the most hated people in Malaysia or one of the most loved depending on who you are. For me, I wouldn't say that I love the guy. I wouldn't say that I hate the guy either.

[00:00:09]We do talk once in a while and I don't agree with everything that he does.

[00:00:13]Doesn't mean I love him, but I don't hate the guy. Anyway, we are on speaking terms and that's why I asked him about the rain rave.

[00:00:22]I thought it would be a fun topic since, you know, his senpai is a DJ and a damn good one for that matter. I was actually surprised that he didn't end up playing for rain rave. But anyway, I asked him how he feels about KJ being a DJ. To which he responds by saying, "Eh, do it privately, la. Not in public." To which I respond by saying, "Bro, you should have come."

[00:00:42]>> [laughter] >> I don't know if he would actually thought about doing it, but if he actually did, it would have been epic.

[00:00:47]To which he says that, "Yo, do you know that disco is not our culture?" Kind of debatable, honestly, cuz again, as I've been mentioning over the past couple of days, culture is something that's evolving bit by bit. He says, "Yo, do you know you have to protect the sentiments of the people?" I proceeded to invite the guy to a podcast, but he never actually responded to me. He said that, "Hey, human rights is not about you, but it's about us." Which, if you think about it, actually kind of makes sense. Cuz at the end of the day, whatever it is that you say, Malaysia is not Chinese, Malaysia is not Malay, it's not Indian. It's like a combination of like all the different races in Malaysia. But you know, the reason I wanted to talk to Akmal Saleh and why I invited him, by the way, that invitation, Akmal, is still open, is that at the end of the day, I understand why, bro, you need to go out there and pander to people in a particular way.

[00:01:36]Cuz you need to win the elections, duh.

[00:01:37]If they want to vote against something like rain rave, then if you as a politician go out and say that, "Hey, this is not the way that we're going to go." Then the guy's not going to vote for you, you're going to lose the election and then the next thing you know, UMNO is going to become um no. But I basically pointed out that there's no proof that Motac provided any alcohol during the rain rave or that there was so-called maksiat. So you shouldn't be judging the entire Motac just based on what happened in the rain rave. Cuz that's kind of like judging people by saying, "Yo, if you're What do we call it? Malayu malas." That doesn't necessarily mean that every single Malay person is lazy. Same thing goes with being Chinese and giasu or Indian and being involved in the whole khilafah thing. Cuz at the end of the day, I think most of us kind of know this already, but not all Chinese people are rich, not all Malay people are lazy, not all Indian people either get drunk or fight or become gangsters or whatever it is that people just assume along the way. But of course, we tend to be so polarized nowadays that people just make that assumption straight away. And it kind of makes you wonder sometimes if that's a good direction for us to be going in. Where somehow or another, we're just constantly yapping about how people we've never met or never will meet behave as entire groups when we might not actually have Indian, Chinese, or Malay friends. Like I think about social media and the way that all of us access information nowadays and learn about different news stories, whether the khilafah thing or even the rain rave. And I think it's actually so toxic to see the way that people are just constantly putting themselves into silos, blocking out their eyes. It's not healthy, bro. But that's what I said to Akmal, "Hey, do you want to be a society where people like Amir, this imaginary voter that I created, feels entitled to think the way he does, never learns anything, and every time it comes to the election, then he just hentam je based on his own knowledge, based on his own feelings, never actually learning about government policy or what happens in the course of the election. And yeah, I did ask permission to share this conversation. I mean, I don't know how Akmal feels about it, but I'll check, don't worry. Akmal Sapu, if you are actually interested in having a conversation that is like more in-depth and uh hopefully is actually beneficial for our society, I think that this could be a very interesting discussion topic, right? See, the thing is that when it comes to politicians, I think a lot of people they just have this feeling that politicians they will BS, they will pander, they will just try to do everything that they think that the Malays or Chinese [snorts] or like whatever group it is wants. Cuz if they don't do that, then again, they cannot get votes. But you know what I'm interested in, Akmal Sapu and to anyone who is listening out there, is like, why do you need to pander all the way when you can actually lead people? I mean, that's the whole point of being a leader, a Pemuda UMNO leader, or whatever, kan? Takkanlah every single day, every single statement you make, every single thing that you do is just based on trying to appeal to all the budak TikTok, Instagram, Threads all day long. Bro, you're a doctor, man. You're trained, you have your own clinic, you are tremendously successful. So why do you need to be listening to these people all the while? These people are supposed to be listening to you. But the more and more I read the statements that are coming out from the Pemuda bastards, the Akmals, the religious gaslighters, the more I feel, right, that like these people are not exercising any leadership. Cuz all of y'all are literally just bantah je. Talking about sensitivities all day long and it just makes me wonder whether you actually understand what it's like or what the people actually think when it comes to this issue. Bro, I think you know that there were a lot of Malay people who actually went for the rain rave. Again, I wouldn't be surprised if you would have had an amazing time or if KJ could have gone because again, he is a DJ.

[00:05:00]This is totally his vibe. And I want to encourage you to realize, bro, that culture, again, is not something that's static, it's evolving. And maybe we shouldn't be just sweeping everything away just because we don't understand it or we don't like it, but maybe we should be asking ourselves like, how do we create a new culture for Malaysia in the days ahead? I look at Malaysia nowadays and honestly, bro, I think that it is sad. Like you see all these people just copying K-dramas, yapping about race and religion all day long. And I just have to wonder to myself like, bro, like are you not bored? I get that there's this idea of the so-called perjuangan and everything, but like, do you really want this sort of discussion about race and religion and race and religion to be a constant part of our national conversation? Bro, I know that we have sensitivities, tapi you tak nak pun, kami pun tak nak, kan? It's not like a lot of these things that happen, they are happening intentionally. And you probably learned this from the whole SOP thing that at the end of the day, maybe there should be a bit more bertimbang rasa or whatever. I think that you've definitely calmed down a lot more, which is one of the reasons why I'm even making this video in the first place, why we even talk, why sometimes I can say that I respect you and everything.

[00:06:01]But bro, seriously, I think that we can actually do a lot better. Come on, Akmal, bro. I think it would actually be interesting to see what you have to say.

[00:06:07]Whether we really need to be just constantly talking about race and religion and what you think is really the future of the country. Are we really going to be just dealing with this whole gaslighting situation like for the next 100 years? Bro, come on. Please say that answer is no. You have it in your power right now to change that culture and I think that this will be a really interesting conversation to have. So yeah, if you ever want to do it, then you know how to hit me up. Anyway, thanks for the chat. Again, as I told you over DM, I hope that it's a fair representation of what you actually said and what you think. And I look forward to meeting you at some later point.

[00:06:38]Anyway, Sapu, what do you think? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments.

[00:06:41]That's all we have to say about that and bye.