COMMENT | Akmal and the politics of outrage

COMMENT | Let’s not underestimate this man. He has certainly done his political homework. He knows the current grassroots politics of Umno better than most.

He has studied the past leadership battles of Umno and he knows how a once-rebel like Dr Mahathir Mohamad became the undisputed leader of the party and the country.

He knows that, for 22 years, Mahathir made the politics of grievance his own undisputed turf by claiming his people were the victims of history, colonialism and the “other”.

His tactics worked. The grassroots were energised. They believed he, and not the NEP, was the long-awaited “economic redeemer”.

Strange things happen when medical doctors use grievances to further their political ambitions. They claim only they know how to treat these “grievances”, including very old ones.