Above all, do no harm.

It’s the overriding objective of the Hippocratic oath, a promise all doctors know. 

Not Akmal Salleh. He’s the go-to guy for petrol whenever there’s a fire raging. And, just when you thought it was safe to believe in medicine, the firebrand is a Russia-trained medic. 

Dr Akmal joins a list of former alumni steeped in the time-honoured practice of divisive race politics to rise in the hierarchy of Malaysian politics. The list includes  four former premiers. Translation: there’s method in his madness, only it’s called the Hypocritic Oath.

The English writer Samuel Johnson put it succinctly. Patriotism, he declared, “is the last refuge of the scoundrel.” 

And scoundrelly stuff seems to be the order of the day.

More than a year ago, a 24-hour convenience store was found selling socks with the word “Allah” printed on them.

It was an honest accident and the owner, an ethnic Chinese businessman, apologised repeatedly. 

No thanks to Akmal, the incident got whipped up to the extent that a few stores got fire-bombed. 

The fact that barely anyone remembers it now illustrates how disproportionate the then-response was.  

Now the fuss is over the flag. The vituperative medico got his knickers in a twist after a hardware shop in Penang accidentally  displayed the national flag upside down. When the owner realised the error, the mistake was rectified and the fellow even apologized.

You’d think that would satisfy a “reasonable” man. Nope.  

The way the pushy physician  pressed for the Chinese shop owner’s prosecution, you’d think he was Heinrich Himmler. 

If only Umno Youth, the branch of the United Malays Nationalist Organisation that Akmal heads, treated corruption with the same evangelical fury….but that is another story.

Things have now changed in a way that makes you believe there might be a God. 

Earlier this week, a chapter of Akmal’s own youth wing  posted an incorrect version of the national flag on social media. It led to a hasty apology and red faces all around – especially in the light of the initial holier-than-thou threats. 

It defused  that particular crisis but it now appears there’re other fish to fry, 

Nurturing  mountains out of molehills was all very well but Umno Youth yearned to see former Malaysian Premier Najib Razak aka Jibsworth exchange his prison cell for house arrest.  

Yes, they wanted him snug as a bug in a rug in the comfortable, air-conditioned climes of his luxurious, Jalan Duta  home where he might serve out the rest of his sentence for “abuse of power and corruption.” 

Lest we forget, Jibsworth together with his pal, the rotund and still-missing  Felonious, were responsible for what the Wall Street Journal described as the “heist of the century.“

It revolved around the theft of RM19 billion from the Malaysian government. The money was raised through US dollar- denominated debt which taxpayers are still paying for.

Putrajaya has paid out RM43.8 billion so far and a balance of RM9.7 billion remains. 

This gargantuan robbery was committed under Jibsworth’s premiership.

You’d think Akmal might be incensed with his former leader’s greed, but no, Umno Youth is calling for the First Felon to serve out his sentence in the comfort of his home. 

Strange would be an understatement, wouldn’t you say? 

ENDS